The Digha Railway Station from the state of West Bengal has been certified to be an eco-smart station that will provide passenger amenities in a clean and green environment including sanitation throughout the railway station.
37 major stations were selected by the Railway Board to be converted to eco-smart stations and Digha station is one of them.
The efforts to attain certification were made possible by close coordination of different departments ensuring an Environment Management System was set in place with tasks to make the station premises compliant with international norms. Various initiatives included setting up a waste management cell, declaring the premises a no-plastic zone, a new mechanised cleaning contract for the premises with waste segregation and disposal with help of municipal authorities, water and energy audits, public meetings for suggestions and awareness, emergency preparedness and mock drills and a grievance redressal system through the newly launched website of the station.
There are a few other developments that are to be completed by the end of July. These include the plantation of trees in an area of 15,000 sq feet with help of forest department next to the station area, setting up new bio-toilets and conversion of existing toilets into eco-friendly ones, a Combined Treatment Plant(CTP) for treatment of water among others.