Recently, a news piece was published by various media houses where some have reported that 'western railway spent  Rs 1.5 crores for killing rats in the last three years' while others stating that 'Rs 14,000 is spent daily by the Indian railway for killing 5 rats'. 

A Hindi news daily, Jan Satta published a report with a title in Hindi that can be roughly translated to, " Indian railways spent more than Rs 15000000 for killing 5457 rats."

The article informs that an RTI has revealed that Western Railway has spent more than Rs 1.52 crore in the last three years for the eradication of mice, ie, rodent control. One excerpt from the article further goes on to provide a calculation as to how much is spent in killing one rat, which can be roughly translated to, "Western Railway spent Rs. 1,52,41,689 in three years. If we calculate its average, it is Rs. 14,000. Now considering the number of rats dying. the RTI reported that 5457 rats died in three years. That is, on average, five rats per day. Now in this way, the Railways spent 14 thousand and killed 5 rats in a day. This means that the Railways spent Rs 2800 to kill a mouse."

Following this report, media houses like Aaj Tak and Mumbai Mirror published similar stories. 

The truth behind the claim

The title and claims made in these reports are misleading.

After Jansatta published their report on the 10th December, Western railways called out the report as misleading also sent a notice to the media house.

The western railways have clearly stated that the information revealed by the RTI has been misinterpreted as the expenditure incurred on 'pest and rodent control' is not only spent on rat killing but for various other purposes including protection from cockroaches, ants, termites, and other harmful insects.

The western railways have further accused media houses of presenting a simplistic but wrong calculation, which is devoid of the real understanding of the methodology as a number of procedures are involved in the eradication of rodents due to which the exact number cannot be stated. Jansatta has also been asked to publish this clarification on its portal where this misleading report was published. 

In conclusion, the reports published by media houses with a claim that the 'Western railway spent  Rs 1.5 crores for killing rats' are misleading. Western Railway has sent a notice to one of the media houses for misinterpreting the information and has also asked to put a clarification.