Mangaluru: The 15 major railway stations of Southern Railway’s Palakkad Division including Mangaluru Central and Mangaluru Junction railway stations have obtained consent to operate certification from respective State Pollution Control Boards.
The certification was obtained as a result of orders issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on December 30, 2018, which brought the Railways under the Water and Air Acts.
Speaking to News Karnataka Aastha Sneha, Divisional Environment and Housekeeping Manager at Southern Railways, Palakkad division said, “No such environmental issues were existing but the order had come from the National Green Tribunal stating that designated Railway stations had to apply for consent to operate and hence we applied. As part of the certification, all the stations were inspected by officials from Karnataka and Kerala Pollution Control Boards for compliance with environmental laws. Some of the smaller works had already been done but the major works are going on,” she informed.
Explaining the environmental initiatives undertaken by the division she said, “work for a sewage treatment plant and solid waste management plant is going on in Mangaluru Central and Mangaluru Junction. Waste Water Management is already under process in both places. A plastic bottle crushing machine is already installed in Mangaluru Central and another will come up in Mangaluru Junction. Based on these actions and initiatives on the environmental front, the pollution control boards issued consent to operate certification to the railway stations. Under our division, only two (Mangaluru Central and Mangaluru Junction) are in Karnataka and the rest are in Kerala,” she added.
“Palakkad is the first division in Southern Railways to complete the certification process among all the nominated stations in the division,” she concluded.
