Western Railways (WR) on Sunday informed that it has stopped issuing licences to its staff members to cultivate farms along railway tracks. WR has also issued notices them to vacate its railway land. Railways has also initiated a drive to check the hygiene standards of the patch of railway lands being used for farming and said that it will cancel licences of employees if there is any regularities. If employees are found using sewage water, their licences will be cancelled.
Bombay High Court recently ordered Railways to not use sewage water to grow vegetables on land along the tracks. The WR and the CR administrations permit junior-level staff to undertake cultivation on railway land.
A senior WR official told Hindustan Times, “We’ve stopped issuing new licenses to employees, while the old licences have already expired. We issued notices to employees to vacate the land. There will be no licences issued henceforth.” “The incidents of encroachment of railway land are quite high. This is one of the primary reasons why patches of land are given to employees for cultivation. Once railway land is encroached upon, it gets difficult to vacate it,” the official further added.
