: Solar Roofs, Miyawaki Forests: The Officer Who Transformed Ahmedabad Railway Station #IndiaNEWS #Changemakers In 2015, the Indian Railways announced its plans to improve cleanliness on-board and on

Solar Roofs, Miyawaki Forests: The Officer Who Transformed Ahmedabad Railway Station #IndiaNEWS #Changemakers
In 2015, the Indian Railways announced its plans to improve cleanliness on-board and on stations, for which it constituted the ‘Environment and Housekeeping Management Directorate’, the wing to incorporate these changes.

Two years later, Fedrick Pariath, then deputy chief mechanical engineer (freight) of the Western Railways, Mumbai, was given the additional charge as deputy chief environment and housekeeping manager.

The 60-year-old recalls that at the time, he had only handled core mechanical engineering roles over his two-decade career. Not one to shy away from this new responsibility, he took this new task as an opportunity to initiate change.

“I decided to work my way around it. There was a lot for me to do, given that this was the first environment-related initiative by the railways,�? he tells The Better India.

In 2019, he moved to the Ahmedabad division of Western Railways. In the years since, under his leadership the division has seen monumental progress in many departments.

Several stations — especially the eight NGT-nominated stations of Ahmedabad, Gandhidham, Bhuj, Maninagar, Viramgam, Palanpur, Mahesana, and Samakhiali in the Ahmedabad division — today have an efficient waste management system, water recycling system, solar panels and so on.

A challenging responsibility

Fedrick says that when he started working with the environment and housekeeping management in the Mumbai headquarters in 2017, his work was mostly at the planning level.

“I started by roping in blue chip companies by convincing them to start CSR activities in railways. Most of the companies have huge funds for CSR activities, but they often don’t know how to put them to use,�? he explains.

He continues, “I pitched them the idea to install plastic bottle-crushing machines that could aid easy plastic management at stations. Thus, over 20 such machines were installed across several stations of the Western Railways. �?

Plastic bottle crushing machine installed at Gandhidham railway station.

Two years later, he moved to the Ahmedabad division as a senior divisional environment and housekeeping manager. “I took the opportunity and moved to the Ahmedabad division and continued my work from there,�? Fedrick says.

“The Ahmedabad division is among the top performing divisions in the Indian Railways in terms of loading, passenger transportation, etc. But it was lagging behind when it came to sustainable environmental management. I decided to implement plans for waste management, pollution control to bring it to a level where it shines in all aspects,�? he says.