India’s rag pickers keep rail tracks clean

NEW DELHI, Aug. 23 (UPI) -- India’s railways may have the answer to helping the poor who pick rags and litter for a living -- outsource the job of keeping the tracks clean to them.

The railway system, one of the largest in the world, has become a highly profitable state-run enterprise in recent years through its innovative ways of improving efficiency and service.

In its latest plan, the railways will hand over the track-cleaning work to the so-called rag pickers, the Press Trust of India reported Thursday. The new crews, who will earn daily wages, will be in charge of cleanup operations along rail tracks, especially at stations, where littering has become a major problem.

All senior railway officials throughout the country have been told to hire itinerant workers through contractors, the report said.

"While we have initiated steps to ensure cleanliness at railway stations, waiting halls and passenger trains, the cleanliness drive has been extended on the tracks also," one official was quoted as saying.