New Delhi: Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday revealed in the Lok Sabha that blankets provided to train passengers are washed at least once a month. Vaishnaw also said that an additional bedsheet is provided in the bedroll kit for its use as a quilt cover.
The union minister made these remarks while responding to Congress MP Kuldeep Indora's question, whether woollen blankets are washed only once a month while passengers are paying for bedding that meets the basic hygiene standards", reported PTI.
"The blankets used in Indian Railways, as per current specifications, are lighter, easy to wash and provide good insulation to passengers for an overall comfortable journey experience," Vaishnaw said in a written reply.
He also said several measures have been taken to ensure passenger comfort and safety, including procurement of new linen sets with improved BIS specifications to ensure better quality, mechanised laundries to ensure supply of hygienic linen sets, use of standard machines and specified chemicals for washing of linen, and monitoring linen washing activities.
As per the minister, whito-meters are used to check the quality of washed linen items. The codal life of linen items has been reduced from the previously prescribed duration to allow quicker induction of fresh items, Vaishnaw added.
"War rooms have been established at zonal headquarters and divisional levels to monitor/prompt action on complaints lodged on RailMadad portal, including complaints on linen/bedroll," he said.
Besides eco-friendly packaging of bedrolls, improved logistics are used for storing, transportation, loading and unloading of linen/bedrolls at stations and on trains, the minister added.
(With inputs from PTI)