Early Times Report
JAMMU, July 24: The Rail line leading to the base camp of holy Vaishno Devi shrine is set to achieve a rare feat of being green line by early next year.
The Railways Ministry is working out a plan to ensure zero toilet discharge on the rail tracks between Jammu and Katra. "Before end of March next year, the line to (from Jammu) Katra will also be human waste free," Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu. said today while inaugurating country's first Green Rail Corridor, a 114-km long Rameswaram-Manamadurai stretch in Tamil Nadu which ensures zero toilet discharge on rail tracks.
Trains in the section have been equipped with bio-toilets ensuring zero discharge of human waste on the rail tracks.
Inaugurating the corridor through video-conferencing from here, Prabhu said his ministry was committed to converting all toilets in railways to bio-toilets.
He said till March 2016, a total of 35,104 bio-toilets had been provided and since then till last week 7,000 more new bio-toilets have been made operational.
"During 2016-17, our target is to provide 30,000 new bio-toilets and the benefits are obvious," he said adding the initiative will also bring down maintenance cost significantly.
He also inaugurated high speed upgraded Wi-Fi facility, set up in association with Google, at Chennai Central Railway Station and a similar facility at Tiruchirappalli through video conferencing. The Wi-Fi amenities were part of the digital India plan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said. |
