After gutkha stains, PET bottles raise stink in Metro
Times of India | 4 April 2024
Kolkata: If paan and gutkha stains weren’t enough to blemish the newly launched swanky Metro stations, PET bottles strewn on the tracks are adding to the woes, affecting both the aesthetics and the safety of the mass transit network.
TOI reported on March 27 that less than a fortnight after the new East-West stations had opened, paan and gutkha stains had begun making appearances.The next day, a survey revealed a similar woeful state of the Kavi Subhas-Dakshineswar (North-South) corridor. Now, a week later, despite rigorous cleanliness campaigns by Metro Railway, littering seems to have become routine, especially at the old and new Esplanade Metro stations and the Howrah Metro station.
Metro Railway has put up posters like “Swachhata Hi Seva” inside the stations; there are labelled disposal bins to segregate QR-coded paper tickets and trash. However, some “thoughtful” commuters are indiscriminately using the bins as betel leaf and gutkha spittoons.
“Carelessness has bred a culture of habitual littering on the Metro. Instead of taking good care of it, people throw rubbish on the tracks and spit on the station premises, refusing to understand the negative impacts of littering on the environment and the safety issues,” a Metro Railway official said, adding, “Every day, we are picking up dozens of plastic bottles and food packets from on the tracks. This is becoming a safety hazard, too.”
Officials said the practice is dangerous; a bottle touching the third rail can cause a spark or a bigger fire. Metro’s electricity is supplied by the third rail, which generates 750 volts of electricity.
Sources said Metro Railway is contemplating installing plastic bottle crushers at stations with high footfall, much as it wonders how people manage to litter the newly operational tracks which are fortified by platform screen doors (PSDs). “The irony of it is, we want the man who is spewing gutkha on the Metro property to also travel in a clean environment. After all, Metro is the greenest mode of transportation,” a Metro official said on Wednesday.
In fact, to reduce plastic pollution and encourage people to recycle, Mumbai Metro installed refrigerator-size machines in stations that could “eat” plastic bottles. Commuters who made the effort to use these machines were rewarded with a 20%-25% discount on several clothing and eyewear brands, among others.