The railway is facing a curious problem: on the one hand, it is being forced to order 500ml bottled water or Rail Neer due to increased demand for it, while on the other, it is having to get monster bottle-crushing machines to squash the rising heaps of plastic bottles at railway stations and platforms.
The Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has been ordering 500ml bottled water as Mumbaikars have been asking for the same owing to ease of travel. “Mumbaikars cannot carry one litre bottles in their bags during peak hours, so a lot of them have been asking vendors at stalls for smaller bottles. We have finally got it but most commuters dump their bottles on the tracks and don’t really make it a point to chuck them into dustbins,” said an official on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, bottle-crushers are capable of crushing 5,000 bottles per day and will be collected by maintenance staff. The first such machine was introduced at Churchgate (Western Railway) on World Environment Day on June 5 and similar machines will be installed at CST, Thane and Kurla in the coming week, said officials. The 500ml bottles will be sold at Churchgate, Mumbai Central, Andheri, Borivali, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Kurla and Thane for Rs 10 vis-a-vis Rs 13 for the one-litre bottles.
