Practice of providing towels on trains may be ended in AC-II & AC-III classes
By Arun Kumar Das
New Delhi, June 3: Faced with the problem of theft of hand towels among other items on trains, the Indian Railways is actively considering stoppage of providing this item, except in AC First Class.
The Railways has over 21,000 AC coaches in service in which about 5 lakh bedrolls are being provided daily as amenities for the passengers.
Each bedroll consists of two bedsheets, one pillow with cover, a blanket and a hand towel.
According to Railways’ data, a total 25 lakh bedroll items including over 15 lakh hand towels and over 50,000 bedsheets were stolen in a year.
As per the data, southern and western zones have witnessed maximum thefts of bed roll items.
The regular theft of hand towels and other items from AC coaches is costing about Rs 17 cr a year for the bedroll contractors, according to the Railways.
“Though no final decision has been taken yet, we are exploring various options to deal with this theft problem,” said a senior Railway Ministry official.
As of now, it has been decided that face towels given to the passengers travelling in air-conditioned coaches will be replaced with cheaper, smaller, disposable, takeaway napkins in AC-II and AC-III coaches, said the official.
The maximum number of stolen items are towels, followed by bedsheets, as reported as stolen by coach attendants after the end of journey, the official said.
Indian Railways has taken several measures like mechanized Laundries to scale up washing capacity and maintain a uniform standard of cleanliness.
Passenger complaints regarding the non-availability, poor hygiene, and delayed supply of linen kits in AC coaches are regular phenomena.
Passengers frequently report receiving torn sheets, unwashed pillows, and unhygienic blankets.
Linens are now increasingly packed and delivered in sealed, eco-friendly kits to ensure hygiene during transit.
Railways have already started changing the cover of blankets in some sections while frequency of washing is being increased from monthly to fortnightly and weekly.
There is also a move for increasing the frequencies of washing of blankets to begin with and replacing the existing ones with the newly designed lightweight blankets made of soft fabric in a phased manner.
The plan envisages improvement of linen management with the aim of providing clean, hygienic and good quality linen to passengers travelling in AC classes, the official said.
