YEH MERA INDIA

Toilets in Mumbai Railway stations

Mumbai: Male commuters somehow use stinking railway toilets but women commuters have found a way round the problem. They avoid railway toilets and use the ones in eateries. Perhaps railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, who had pulled up Central Railway officials on Tuesday for the stinking public toilets at Chhatrapathi Shivaji Terminus (CST) does not know this.

Tehmina Sabuwala (24), a market researcher who travels around the city because of her work, said, “I travel around the city to meet clients, both on Central and Western Railway but I never use public toilets. Instead, I buy a coffee or a burger at in a eatery with toilets, no matter how costly it is.”Many women do the same, no matter the how severe the emergency, “Have you seen the toilets on stations?” asked Ruhi Agarwal a resident of Dadar and working with a media firm. “The stink is so overpowering that on several occasions I have been unable to use public toilets at railway stations even after paying the Rs 2 charge,” said Agarwal.

The public toilets at stations ask women commuters to pay Rs.2 to use facilities and do not charge the men any. The caretaker at women’s toilet at Churchgate said, “It is easier to maintain facilities for men less cleaning the women used enclosed toilets so the work is more,” Only four of the six women’s toilets at Churchgate were open. The caretaker gave no reason for keeping the other two closed.When asked why facilities are not maintained despite the charge only to women commuters the chief public relations officer of Western Railway (WR) Sharat Chandrayan said, “The problem is that we charge according to a policy which is very old but regarding the refusal to use the two toilets at Churchgate I will look into the matter,”

The Central Railway (CR) chief relation’s officer did not respond to this reporters message. CST station too was not in a better situation, when you enter the toilet the caretaker hisses at you putting up two figures to indicate to pay up Rs.2. After 10 minutes of standing in the line the toilet one you enter is not usable and is unhygienic.

Kurla station is said to be the worst public toilets on the Central line, “When the train stops at Kurla the first ladies compartment stops right outside the toilet, that one or two minutes of halt is complete torture,” said Manisha Chitale a BPO employee who travels from Vikhroli to Vashi. Chetan Kothari an activist had filed an RTI before the Railway budget in which he found that there are of 38 toilets and urinal facilities at Andheri and only four were for women. The RTI also said that of the 83 urinals and toilets at CST, 10 were for women including two urinals.

CR’s Main line has 29 stations between CST and Ambernath, with a total of 299 toilet and urinals, of which only 62 toilets and 13 urinals are for women commuters. The WR has 676 restroom facilities across 30 stations and only 119 are for women, including 86 lavatories and 33 urinals. “The only communication I received after I filed the RTI was a mail of the Railway Budget,” said Chetan Kothari. “Till date I have not seen or been informed of any increase in urinals or toilets for women,” said Kothari.

Transfer book of records or Record book of transfers

Luckbnow: Creating a record of sorts, a senior Uttar Pradesh cop had to pack his bags as many as 59 times in his 30 year-service giving him and his family very little time to get adjusted to the place of postings in different parts of the state.

K L Meena, a 1983-batch IPS officer, may not have any record in his name other than this one, a dubious one for sure. Meena, however, can take solace from the fact that he is not alone. There are many others who, like him, have been on the move throughout their service period.

There are at least 43 IPS officers in UP who have been transferred more than 40 times in their career. They included two DGs, 14 ADGs, 13 IGs, 10 DIGs and 4 SPs. These facts were revealed by the government in response to a query under the Right to Information Act. RTI activist Dr Nutan Thakur had sought to know from the state home department about the transfers of senior police officials.

While the record for maximum transfers among IPS officers in UP is held by Meena, he is closely followed by Kamal Saxena (48 transfers) and Vijay Singh (47). Due to these frequent transfers, the average number of transfers of 14 DGs in UP comes up to 36.4. An IPS officer becomes DG after around 32 years of service. Hence, on average these DGs were transferred at least once in a year, if not more. Similarly, ADGs in UP have been transferred on an average 35.9 times so far in their career. This figure stands at 31.8 for IGs and 29.7 for DIGs, said Thakur.

“This is the ground reality in UP, as opposed to the Supreme Court order in the Prakash Singh case which says that the minimum tenure of police officers shall be two years,” she added. Mass transfers of police personnel have now become a routine of successive UP governments.

W Rly realised Rs 71 crore from ticketless travellers

Western Railway General Manager Mahesh Kumar addressing a meeting at Churchgate, flanked by C P Sharma, Chief Commercial Manager, Western Railway. Intensive checks against ticketless travel were conducted from April 2012 to March 2013 on the Western Railway resulting in detection of over 19.16 lakh cases of ticketless/irregular travel including unbooked luggage cases and an amount of Rs 71.03 crore was realised -19% more than previous year's Rs 59.65 crore. Mahesh Kumar reviewed the status & progress of various commercial and passenger amenities related works in a recent meeting at WR headquarters, in which he stressed upon the need to continue suitable action against ticketless travel and ensure smooth travel for genuine passengers.

This  Mahesh Kumar is the same person who allegedly bribed Vijay Singla Rs: 12 crores, for a berth in Railway Board as well as retaining the position of GM of Western Railway.

Illegal property of corrupt public servants to be seized

New Delhi: Property illegally acquired by a corrupt public servant will be confiscated and a time line has been set for securing sanction to prosecute serving and retired public servants under a bill approved.

Sweeping changes to the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 have been approved by the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram said provisions have been incorporated to confiscate and forfeit property illegally acquired by a corrupt public servant. A timeframe has been set for getting sanction of competent authority to prosecute serving and retired bureaucrats and reasons will have to be specified giving the nod or refusing it.

For the first time, a provision for liability of a commercial entity for failing to prevent bribery of a public servant has been incorporated. The amended bill has also laid down a “clear definition” of different forms of bribery in line with international practices, Chidambaram said. In what is being seen as a reprieve for retired bureaucrats, they would not have to face prosecution for acts of omission and commission while in office without the prior sanction of competent authority.At present, the government’s protection in the form of prosecution sanction does not extend to retired bureaucrats.

 A need was felt to bring the amendment to extend this protection to retired officials so that it would be mandatory for the prosecuting agency to get prior sanction before prosecuting them for something which they might have done with good intention while in office.

13 escalators on main WR stations

Mumbai: Similar to the Central Railway (CR), the Western Railway (WR) will now be installing 13 escalators at stations that witness heavy commuter traffic. The WR has identified Dadar, Vile Parle, Andheri and Borivili stations in the first phase of the project. WR's chief public relations officer, Sharat Chandrayan, said, "We are hopeful that the work on the first phase will be completed by July end and the public will be able to use them within the set date." Other stations that have been identified are Bandra Terminus, Mumbai Central Terminus, Bhayander, Mira Road, Mumbai Central local, Virar, Jogeshwari and Goregaon. A total of 25 escalators will be installed at 13 stations, whereas the stations in the first phase will have one escalator per station. The 13 stations that have been identified have the heaviest traffic on the WR on local as well as outstation trains.

Online: File RTI application & pay fees

New Delhi: In a step towards greater transparency, the government has started a unique facility of submitting RTI applications and fees online.

The portal – www.rtionline.gov.in – has been created with an aim to help people exercise their right to seek information through online medium, said officials in Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which acts as nodal department for the implementation of transparency law in the country. An information seeker can submit a fee of Rs 10 via Internet banking through SBI and its associated banks. One can also use credit or debit cards for payment of the fee, they said. “At present, people can file online applications and appeals for information related to the DoPT only. They can also make payment of RTI fee using this platform,” a DoPT official said.