Bottle crusher at Chandigarh railway station goes defunct after two months

CHANDIGARH: From the past fortnight sole water bottle crushing machine at Chandigarh railway station has been lying defunct due to technical snag. With this tall claims of the railway authorities about recycling waste plastic bottles with the help of the bottle crusher has received a major setback.

The railway authorities had installed the machine in October this year with a view to safeguard the environment and give the railway station a cleaner and greener look. At the time of its installation, they had claimed that the facility would help in preventing reuse of plastic bottles at city railway station and would also help in proper disposal of the used bottles. The officials had also claimed that two more such machines, one near the accelerator towards Chandigarh side and another one on Panchkula side, would soon be put up.

The bottle crusher at UT railway station is lying non-functional.

During a visit to the railway station, it was found that the machine was lying defunct at platform. One of the railway official, on condition of anonymity, stated that the said machine was installed to make the passengers properly dispose of plastic bottles but with the machine developing a technical snag, people have again gone back to their old habit of throwing bottles at the platforms and railway tracks giving the area a filthy look.

Sources said at the time when the proposal of bottle crushing machine was mooted, it was also discussed that the railways could also generate revenue by selling the used plastic to a local firm for manufacture of second-hand plastic material.

Director of the Chandigarh railway station Harideep Singh said that he was aware that the bottle crushing machine was not operational and a report in this regard had been sent to the Ambala division authorities.

He added that his office had sent a proposal to the Ambala division authorities seeking permission to install a similar machine that had been donated by a private company under its corporate social responsibility. He said that the said machine, which costed Rs 10 lakh, was more affective than the existing one and the permission was still awaited.