CAG says over 1 lakh complaints of water shortage in toilets of railways coaches in 2022-23

New Delhi: A Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report said that the Indian Railways received a total of 100,280 complaints regarding the non-availability of water in toilets and wash basins in coaches during the 2022-23 fiscal year.

The audit report details the performance audit of "Cleanliness and Sanitation in Long-Distance Trains in Indian Railways" for the period from 2018-19 to 2022-23 tabled in the Parliament.

"A total of 1,00,280 complaints regarding non-availability of water in toilets and wash-basins in the coaches were reported over IR during 2022-23. In 33,937 cases (33.84 per cent), the time taken for addressing the issue exceeded the expected timeline," the report mentioned.

The country’s top auditor also asked the railways to give more importance to maintaining high hygiene standards as it directly impacts public health and safety as well as overall aesthetics.

Regarding the cleanliness of bio-toilets in long-distance trains, the report said satisfaction level among surveyed passengers was over 50 per cent in five zones, while it was below 10 per cent in two zones.

The CAG, said to address the non availability of water in trains, the Railway Board decided (September 2017) to make provision of Quick Watering Arrangement (QWA) at the watering stations. Audit observed that out of the 109 stations identified for making provision for QWA, facilities for quick watering were in operation at 81 stations (74 per cent) as on 31 March 2023," an official statement read.

"At 28 stations across nine zones, there was a delay in setting up of QWA ranging from two to four years as of March 2023 for reasons such as fund constraints, slow progress of work by contractor, shelving/shifting of work, etc," it added.

Regarding the railways' On Board Housekeeping services (OBHS), the audit said, "Passenger satisfaction in respect of OBHS ranged between 54 per cent and 84 per cent except in Northern Railway and North Central Railway where the satisfaction level was more than 95 per cent of the surveyed passengers."

While auditing Automatic Coach Washing Plants (ACWPs), the CAG found that these facilities were underutilised. As a result, the washing of 132,060 coaches was conducted externally through Mechanised Coach Cleaning Contracts.

"During joint inspection of 24 ACWPs with the Railway Officials, it was observed that eight (33 per cent) ACWPs were not in operation due to breakdown or repair works," the statement said.