No facilities at rear entrance of railway station

No facilities at rear entrance of  railway station
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Highlights

Lack of amenities greets passengers at west-end of the railway station, which see footfalls about 50,000 commuters every day. Thousands of passengers, who visit the west-end, which also has a ticket booking station and regular commuters, are put to hardships, as the platform lacks toilet and waiting room.

Vijayawada: Lack of amenities greets passengers at west-end of the railway station, which see footfalls about 50,000 commuters every day. Thousands of passengers, who visit the west-end, which also has a ticket booking station and regular commuters, are put to hardships, as the platform lacks toilet and waiting room.

Highlights:

  • West-end of station, which provides access to platform no 10, lacks proper toilets
  • Passengers fear roaming of anti-social elements at nights
  • Unhygienic conditions greet passengers

According to M Vajra of Paderu, who was waiting to catch a train to his native place along with his children, wife and mother said it was horrible wait, as they have to sit on the floor, which was unhygienic. “There is no proper drinking water facility and urinals,” he added. Vajra is among thousands, who narrated the same problems after a brief stay on the platform.

There is no enquiry at the counter. The authorities are providing all facilities at the east-end of the station ignoring the passengers coming from west. With summer rush, woes of commuters increased manifold. As there was no cloak room, single commuters are afraid to use toilets, fearing loss of belongings.

As a few trains often run behind schedule, regular passengers on these routes take a slew of measures, in case they have to wait at the last platform (west-end of the station). “More often than not, it will be a long wait and I take many precautions to ensure that gold ornaments are not visible to others, especially during nights. I am a frequent traveler and notice many anti-social elements roam freely here,” says S Kusuma, a teacher who makes regular travel to Machilipatnam.

Apart from this, there is another entry point at Tarapet, which is about 1 km away from the west-end. Passengers have some comfort there, when compared to west-end. After bifurcation of the state, the administration has removed encroachments and other structures in and around the booking counter on the west-end. The end is spacious for railway authorities to expand the booking centre and provide all facilities to passengers.

West-end connects One Town, which saw vast development in the past couple of years. Construction of innumerable residential apartments up to Gollapudi and Guntupalli has resulted in sharp rise in population in the western half of the city.
Under such circumstances it is high time the railway authorities take up development of west-end.

BY Noor Shaik

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