Railway inspection reveals unwashed linen in trains

KOLHAPUR: Members of two railway passenger committees paid a surprise visit to the linen department of the city's railway station on Tuesday and confirmed travellers' complaints about unwashed, wrinkled linen and poorly maintained records.
Apart from the dirty linen, passengers had also complained that the mandatory napkins were not being provided along with the linen set in AC coaches.Some passengers also said they did not get napkins despite frequent requests.
Every passenger travelling in an AC coach is entitled to a set of two bedsheets, a rug, a pillow and a napkin. Some passengers had taken up the issue of dirty linen and absence of napkins with local MP Dhananjay Mahadik. Mahadik then asked the members of the two passenger committees to inspect the department.
Sameer Sheth and Shivnath Biyani, members of the zonal railway users' consultative committee, Mohan Shete of the divisional railway users' consultative committee and station manager Sugreev Meena visited the linen department. They found unwashed linen and napkins with dust gathering on them.
Shete said the napkins hardly looked white in colour. "The attendants in the coaches tried to blame passengers for not returning the napkins given to them after their journey. The napkins are low-priced as they are purchased in bulk. Besides, providing napkins to passengers is mandatory. This has been mentioned on the cover given to every passenger in the AC coaches," he said.
In 2015, the railways had taken a decision to wash the linen after every trip. However, the register with the linen department did not have proper information about how many napkins were actually used and how many were sent for washing.
Shete and Biyani asked Meena to look into the issue as information provided by the staff was suspect and their excuses unsatisfactory.