Hit by language hurdle, South Western Railway initiative goes to waste

BENGALURU: South Western Railway (SWR) has taken a step towards effective waste management at its stations in Bengaluru, expecting passengers to fall in line. However, it’s unlikely to translate into gains due to a language barrier.


SWR has provided separate dustbins at stations for bio-degradable (wet waste) and non-biodegradable (dry waste), labelling them Sukha Kachra and Geela Kachra.

With no Kannada or English markings on the bins, passengers, most of whom are ignorant of Hindi, are finding it hard to figure out which one to pick.

Several netizens have been pointing out the anomaly for some time now, but railway officials appear to have turned a blind eye. “How can they use only Hindi in a southern city? Can they do this in Tamil Nadu? These bins with Hindi names have been there for long but sadly, there has been no outrage,” said Kiran Gowda, a regular train passenger.

Venugopal, a netizen who posted pictures of the bins, wrote on social media: “What’s the purpose of this? Should people learn Hindi and drop the waste. This is in Yeswantpur station Bengaluru where 80% of passengers are from Karnataka. Can you paste the right message of dry/wet waste over the bins? (sic).”

Shiva, another passenger wrote: “The new segregated bins placed at all SWR stations (including Hosur) having the names in Hindi, no one would use it properly...One solution doesn’t fit all (sic).”

SWR chief public relations officer E Vijaya said the bins were provided across the country under the CSR funds of Power Grid Corporation of India Limited. “They were provided in bulk across the country, so they have only Hindi labels,” she said.

Nameboard row

The alleged imposition of Hindi hasn’t gone down well with Kannada activists in the city. Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya recently posted pictures of the Bengaluru railway divisional meeting with MPs held on Monday, which showed their nameboards were in Hindi.

Many pro-Kannada activists slammed the usage of Hindi, urging Surya to get Kannada boards installed as the meeting was, after all, held in the Karnataka capital. User of the Twitter handle Voice of South @South_Indians wrote: “Shouldn’t the name plates be in the language of the state & English where the meeting is held (sic). #StopHindiImposition.”

However, Vijaya said: “We have a bilingual policy of nameboards at meetings. We have both English and Hindi on either side of the boards. There’s no space to accommodate another language. But the meeting was mostly conducted in English and not in Hindi.”

On September 30, a pro-Kannada activist staged a protest at KSR City Railway Station, pointing out the lack of Kannada boards. Swachhta-Hi-Seva Pakhwada (cleanliness fortnight) was held to create awareness but most boards were in Hindi.

There are also complaints that instructions in trains, Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) and destination boards of several trains originating from Karnataka and announcements don’t feature Kannada. “Destination boards of all trains originating from Karnataka have Kannada. Even announcements are made in the language,” claimed Vijaya. She said most railway programmes in Karnataka have Kannada boards.