CBSE Class-12 Compartment Exam 2019 : Question Paper-English Elective

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CBSE Class-12 Compartment Exam 2019 : Question Paper-English Elective

SECTION A (Reading)

1. (A) Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow : 10

1 On one side, 10 platforms, six waiting rooms, eight toilet complexes, three foot overbridges, 10 water booths, 22 stalls, a parking lot, and a wandering hungry bull. On the other, nearly 1 lakh passengers daily — boarding and alighting from 200 trains — a tenth of whom make the station’s platforms and halls their home every night. That, in nutshell, is the story of A.B.C. Junction — the railway station considered ‘the least clean’ among the major 75 stations in the country in an audit-cum-survey by the Quality Council of India (QCI).

2 A.B.C. station’s battle against filth and garbage is perhaps no different from any other in India — with cups strewn across the tracks, dirty toilets, and the usual, ever present paan stains. But, two additional factors, says Divisional Commercial Manager Sachit Tyagi, are responsible for the station slipping from the 59th to 75th position in the survey; large-scale construction, and litter left behind by passengers who overstay their welcome.

3 ‘‘The QCI team came unannounced in May and there was a lot of construction on, in the halls, waiting rooms and entrances. The daily footfall was also over 1·5 lakh because of a mela (fair) in the city,’’ says the officer. The numbers are indeed a challenge for Deepak Gautam, the supervisor deployed by the third-party firm Quick-Clean that has the contract for cleaning the station, with the help of his team of 90 men. They work in three shifts — 6 am to 2 pm, 2 pm to 10 pm and 10 pm to 6 am, and earn < 10,500 each per month. Gautam’s firm received the contract for the station in January this year for < 13·88 lakh per month.

4 It’s 10·30 am on a Thursday, and the rush hour that starts at 6 am, when most of the pilgrims arrive on over 30 trains, has just got over. At platform no. 8, sweeping away bits of cloth, glass and spit, Birju Khare says, ‘‘Once I told a passenger to throw his cup in the dust-bin.’’ He shot back, ‘‘What are you paid for ?’’

5 The sweeping is to be followed by mopping, and Shivam Chouhan, 20, arrives with a ‘machine’. It looks like a toy car with a mop attached to the wheels. ‘‘It takes me about two hours to clean one platform. We have to do several rounds because people keep on walking over the wet floor,’’ he says, adding that during one shift, he uses 3 litres of phenyl and 7 litres of cleaning liquid for the 10 platforms.

6 As he instructs two of his men to pick the garbage off the tracks before they are sprayed with jet water, Gautam says, ‘‘We also use 25 kg of bleaching powder for the paan stains. But the moments where the station appears all clean are brief. All it takes is for the next train to arrive.

7 ‘‘The passenger and train density at the station is very high as it falls on a crowded route. The passengers who come here don’t stay in hotels. They bring packed food from home, eat on the platform, and after visiting places, return to the station and sleep right here,’’ says Station Director N.P. Singh. In fact, while the QCI survey also relied on feedback from passengers, the feedback register at the station has no complaints. Most of the entries are generally notes of appreciation.

8 Incidentally, the Quick-Clean company had also handled the Jodhpur station, ranked the ‘cleanest among major stations’ as per the survey, till 2012. ‘‘It was a different task altogether,’’ explains Ashok Yadav, 25, who worked as the cleaning supervisor in Jodhpur, and used to take over from Gautam in the evening. ‘‘The platforms were smaller, the crowd was lesser ... Also, in Jodhpur, when we asked tourists not to litter, they listened. Yehan toh deewar par sar maarne jaisa hai (Here it is like banging your head against a wall).’’

9 The railway officers further explain why even comparison with Tirupati, also a temple town, but one which stood at rank 3 is unfair. ‘‘It is a much smaller station and most people come to visit just the Tirupati temple. It’s a one-day trip. ‘‘A.B.C. has many religious sites’’, says Station Director Singh. A little after noon, at the toilet in the second-class waiting room, ‘cleaner’ Ravi Kumar, 31, describes another struggle. ‘‘Someone broke the Indian toilet the other day, I don’t know how. Everyone uses this toilet, including the coolies and Class 3 staff. In another toilet, someone broke the door,’’ he says.

10 At the parking lot outside the station, maintained by another third-party firm, supervisor Som Kumar is fighting his own battle against litter, ‘‘Scores of rickshaw pullers stand here. It’s unauthorized. Then there are touts sent by the hotels to get tourists. The result is bidi stubs and peanut shells everywhere. We have three boys who sweep the area two times at day, but that is not enough,’’ he says.

(a) Who make the A.B.C. railway station ‘their home’ every night ? 1

(b) What rating has been given to A.B.C. railway station ? 1

(d) What are the additional factors for the ‘low rating’ ? 1

(e) Name the firm which has taken contract for the cleaning of the station. 1

(f) At what time does the rush hour start ? 1

(g) What reply does the incharge get from the passengers who litter the platform ? 1

(h) Who increases the work at the parking lot supervised by Som Kumar ? 1

(i) Find words from the passage which mean the same as the following :