Railway stations, clean and neat

I travelled in Delhi metro six years back. So I knew how a cleaner railway track looked like. Unfortunately I could not see a cleaner railway platform, as Delhi metro used to be very rush, mainly at the main junctions. Until I visited Kerala for the first time in April this year, I could not imagine a regular railway station and the tracks in it could be so clean and neat. Although the metro was of international standard, if you visit any of the two main railway stations of Delhi, you will not believe you are in the national capital. Same is the scene with Pune, Hyderabad, Mumbai etc. They are nothing much different from each other. 

When I first visited Trivandrum railway station, I could not look away from what I was seeing. They had series of dustbins next to every pillar and passenger sitting area on the platform. They are all with the decomposable dustbin bag around them. The tracks were absolutely clean, I tried hard to find out at least a piece of paper or a banana peal, but I failed miserably but that feeling was very pleasant. What they do is the authorities allocate a certain location of the tracks and platform to a set of workers. They keep cleaning them from one side to the other side continuously, at least I could see that as long as I was on the platform waiting for the train. The aptly placed dustbins do the rest of the job. People can see more dustbins than a place to through the trash. Hence the scrap gets filled up in there. 

Hats off to the maintenance. As soon as I got down the train back in Pune, I realized that I was again amidst the papers, banana peals, empty water bottles and you name them. It must be learnt from the Kerala railway station authorities of how to keep the so rushy public places so clean. Yes, Kerala's income is mostly from tourism hence they take that extra step to keep areas clean. But tourism need not be a reason for you to keep the surroundings clean. Health matters as well. Comfort matters as well. Pleasantness matters as well. A very impressive way of maintenance that these people have here. Truly appreciable and worth practicing as well.