Discontinuance of cleaners' services in AC coaches irks Cong

The Congress in Madhya Pradesh has claimed that the Jabalpur railway division's decision to discontinue the services of cleaning workers in AC coaches has affected the hygiene conditions in trains.

Earlier, there was a system wherein a worker was assigned the task of cleaning two air-conditioned coaches, apart from there being attenders in every AC coach. Both had their set defined jobs, Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee secretary Saurabh Nati Sharma said yesterday.

"While the cleaning workers used to clean the toilets and coaches, the attenders were assigned the job of providing bed-rolls and food to passengers," he said.

However, from July 15, the Jabalpur rail division discontinued the services of cleaning workers in AC coaches and assigned their jobs to attenders, besides the latter's regular work of providing bed-rolls and serving food. This has caused inconvenience to passengers, Sharma claimed.

However, Divisional Railway Manager Manoj Kumar said that services in trains have rather improved with the introduction of the new system.

Earlier, three workers were usually deputed for cleaning the toilets of seven AC and 11 sleeper coaches in a train. Besides toilets, they were also supposed to clean the coaches.

But now, these workers clean only the sleeper coaches in a train while the AC coaches are cleaned by the attenders. The passengers have no complaints with the present system, Kumar said.