Two sections of Indian Railways have been identified to be made ‘zero toilet discharge’ sections by October 2, 2015 – Kanalus-Dwarka- Okha and Porbander-Wansjalya. Jammu-Katra and Manmadurai- Rameshwaram will be covered later in the year. All the trains originating/terminating and passing through will be equipped with bio-toilets.
Biotoilets have been introduced on the coaches to eliminate open discharge of faecal matter on the track. In the bio-toilets the faecal matter is digested by specially developed colony of bacteria (inoculums), and only small amount of clean water is discharged. “More than 17,000 bio-toilets have been fitted till March, 2015 and target set for 2015-16 is 17,000 bio-toilets. We also produce inoculums as well as bio-toilets in-house,” said Hemant Kumar, board member-Indian Railways.
Dustbins on trains were hitherto being provided mainly on AC coaches and some non AC coaches. Provision of dustbins on all the newly manufactured coaches, including non AC coaches, have been planned to be started from 2015-16 onwards. Besides, retrofitment on existing coaches has also been planned. It is also planned to develop garbage compactors for coaches to take care of intensive usage.