mid day editorial: Hygiene must be the norm at railway stations

Central Railway directed all stall owners to clear the roofs of all stalls of "men and material" at all stations. This directive was prompted after a video of a vendor preparing lime juice in an unhygienic manner, went viral.

A report in this paper also cited the Comptroller and Auditor General 2017 report which said that food provided at stations is unfit for human consumption. Some of it is contaminated or past its shelf life. The fault apparently is in the compromises made on cleanliness and hygiene.

Let this now become a catalyst for large scale action and investigations into food and drink preparation across all railway lines in the city.

The authorities now must come down heavily on stalls and vendors flouting norms, actually taking away licences in case of offences. Some time ago, this paper had reported about authorities moving on clean food and drink at Mumbai's popular tourist beaches like Chowpatty and Juhu. We want to see the same non-negotiable when it comes to cleanliness approach and Railway stations. From servers adhering to personal hygiene, inspection of how items are prepared to disposal of food the entire gamut must now come under strict scrutiny.

Take into account the thousands of people who consume food on the platforms daily. The sale of drinks is set to zoom given that summer is upon us. Stall owners need to be educated and informed and only in this way will they pass on that awareness to those who work in these stalls.

Keep in mind, too, that the monsoon is just two months away, a time when disease is rampant and station platforms turn into flooded cesspools.

Begin the drive today and do not slow down till we see cleanliness as the overriding theme on our railway facilities. Full steam ahead now.

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