Why Railways replaced face towels with cheap napkins

The Indian Railways has decided to replace face towels in its air conditioned coaches with cheap, disposable napkins. As reported, Railways will now offer smaller and disposable napkins measuring 40 cm x 30 cm instead of current towels that are bigger at 52 cm x 40 cm. The new napkins will be environment-friendly and made of cotton to absorb more water. Two such napkins per bedroll will be provided during long journeys, if required. The decision has come almost a year after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) rapped the Railways over cleanliness and management of linen. The criticism spurred Railways to take a series of steps to improve hygiene in coaches and railway stations. Just recently Railways has decided to wash blankets of AC coaches twice a month instead of existing practice of once in two months.However, hygiene may not be the only reason why Railways decided to replace face towels. As per a November 2017 report of Times of India, the Mumbai division of Western Railways itself saw 70 towels getting stolen each month per train that operates between Mumbai and other cities from WR.In 2016-17, bed linen and towels worth Rs 71.52 lakh were stolen from 56 trains in the Mumbai division comprising Mumbai Central, Bandra and Surat, The Hindu had reported in August last year quoting Western Railways officials. This included 81,190 face towels.Other divisions of Railways have so far not revealed their losses due to such thefts - the losses could be in crores considering it has 16 divisions including Central, Northen and Easter Railway divisions which see as much passesngers as the Western division.The reason why Railways may have replaced face towels with cheap napkins 64745089 64827375

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2MI30Oa