Swachh Rail Rankings: Visakhapatnam station drops to 84th spot

The recently revealed ‘Swachh Rail Swachh Bharat’ rankings didn’t offer much to cheer about for Visakhapatnam. The survey, conducted by the Quality Council of India, scored 720 railways stations across the country in the categories of Green Score, Process Audit, Direct Observation, and Citizen Feedback. Jaipur, with an overall score of 931.75 has been recognised as the cleanest railway station, while Jodhpur and Durgapura stations, with scores of 927.19 and 922.50, have bagged the second and third spots respectively.

In Andhra Pradesh, Vijayawada, with an overall score of 908.8, has stood seventh in the rankings while Samalkot Junction has accounted for 857.93 to stand forty-fifth on the list. Visakhapatnam station, on the other hand, has been awarded a total score of 828 to find itself at the 84th spot. The breakup of the score awarded to Visakhapatnam station is as follows:

Green Score: 68.27

Process Audit: 267.33

Direct Observation: 245.88

Citizen Feedback: 298.83

The latest rankings, revealed by the ministry of railways, have marked a drastic drop in Visakhapatnam’s merit among the railway stations in the country. The city had bagged the top spot in the A-1 grade stations in the ‘Swachh Rail, Swachh Bharat’ rankings in 2017.

“In 2017 and 2018, ranks were given to A-1 and A grade stations separately. But this year, all the stations were mixed up. There were only two categories this year—Non-suburban grade and suburban grade stations. There is no logic in comparing a major station such as Visakhapatnam with a footfall of over 75,000 a day with a small station such as Simhachalam,” a Waltair railway division official was quoted as saying by The Hindu.