Uncleared garbage surprise visitors

Tender process delayed resulting in unhygienic railway station

With the reopening of historic Hasanamba temple for the season, the devotees arriving in large numbers to the city to have darshan of the goddess are welcomed by the unbearable stench that has been dumped on the premises.

The used plastic coffee cups and others were seen littered in the city railway station as the pourakarmikas failed to clear them.

The passengers who alighted at the station on Friday morning were surprised to see the untidy railway station which is otherwise not so bad.

The garbage bins were also filled to the brim and the whole place was littered with used cups and looked like a garbage dumping yard.

The leftover biscuits and other eatables attracted insects and the strewn papers and cups were seen spreading when the wind blew and also when a train arrived into the station.

The toilets were uncleaned and unhygienic and the passengers were not even able to stand near the toilets due to stinking smell.

When some of the passengers contacted the staff and officials there, they were told that they have no information on the issue and was told to contact the Mysore office, which made them to call the newspaper offices and inform them about the problem and the laxity of the officials.

An official on condition of anonymity said that the delay in calling tenders for cleaning the station is the reason for the problem.

Earlier, the commercial division of railway department was maintaining the station premises, but as cleanliness and hygiene has to be maintained by Health division, the responsibility was transferred to the latter.

The authorities concerned should have called for new tenders before the end of previous tender contract, but it has not been done.

Moreover, the contractor who was given the tender earlier has refused to continue the work for a few more days, resulting in overflowing garbage, he said.