Calcutta Metro Railway has urged commuters to maintain cleanliness amid reports of people dirtying newly inaugurated stations with gutkha and paan stains and littering the premises with plastic waste.

The country's first underwater metro service connecting Howrah Maidan and Esplanade stations along the East-West corridor of the Kolkata Metro Railway became operational earlier this month.

In an official statement, Metro Railway CPRO Koushik Mitra urged commuters to uphold the cleanliness maintained at the older north-south line, which is the country's first metro service.

"It has come to our notice that a section of the commuters, travelling in the new corridor, are turning the new, beautifully decorated metro stations dirty, unhealthy with gutkha stains, dumping sachets, plastics in an indiscriminate manner. This is turning the ambience inside in this corridor as unhygienic," the statement added.

The Metro Railway sought cooperation from commuters to maintain cleanliness in the newer corridors as witnessed in the north-south line.

After the launch of services along the Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section of the East-West Metro on March 15, images of gutkha and paan stains on the walls of Howrah Maidan and Esplanade stations and plastic packets being littered surfaced on social media, with commuters calling upon the Metro Railway to take note of the situation and initiate necessary steps.

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