Choked Drains, Garbage Littered All Over Bhopal Railway Station—MPPCB Assesses ₹10 Lakh Fine For Poor Waste Management

Bhopal Railway Station has been slapped with a ₹10.06 lakh fine by the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board for inadequate waste management and unhygienic conditions at the station. The environmental compensation was assessed and a recovery notice issued to the Railways during a recent hearing of a petition filed by Shivam Kumar Kori before the National Green Tribunal’s Central Zone Bench in Bhopal.

The MPPCB informed the tribunal that they were following previous directives to calculate the compensation for improper waste management at the station, which is now standing at Rs. 10.06 lakh. In response to the fine, the Railways requested extra time to file its answer, which was granted by the NGT, with the next hearing scheduled for September 24.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) was also given two weeks to submit its response, but currently, its name does not appear on the NGT portal. A joint committee report submitted before the NGT had revealed multiple shortcomings at the station, including choked drains near platforms 4 and 5, the solid waste storage area on platform 6 without proper covering, waste-filled bags strewn along the railway tracks and surrounding areas, inadequate scientific waste collection, and poor segregation of wet and dry waste.