Chaos rules city railway station

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 20

Chaos was witnessed at the Chandigarh railway station as anxious passengers were seen jostling against each other to buy tickets.Women and senior citizens were at the receiving end due the absence of a separate counter as of the six ticket windows, only three were operational.

Shelly, a nurse at Panchkula, who waited for an hour near a closed ticket window, said, “At all three queues, men were seen jostling against each other for space. There was no separate queue for women.I am scared. I cannot stand amidst such a crowd to buy a ticket.”

Shelly, along with her friend, met travelling ticket examiner (TTE) Bhupinder Singh of a Lucknow-bound train and narrated her plight. TTE Bhupinder Singh said she would be charged Rs 375 for without-ticket travel.

“I am completely at my wits end. I do not know what to do now. I will wait for sometime and urge another railway official to arrange the ticket,” said Shelly.

A railway employee said the railway station had become a haven for black marketeers.

“Visit after 8 pm. Only one ticket counter will be open and people can be seen grappling with each other to buy tickets,” said a railway employee.

“There is a deliberate staff shortage at the ticket counter to facilitate black marketeers,” alleged the employee.

Satyam, a student, waited near a counter for nearly two hours. “I have to visit Muradabad. But looking at the chaos, I do not think that I will be able to make it to the city,” said Satyam.

Nand Kishore, a labourer who came from Mohali to catch a train to Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh (UP), also shared a similar predicament.

As per information, Rs 4.75 crore was spent on the construction of the new ticket counters with six windows. However, the newly built ticket counters failed to end miseries of passengers.

“What was the need of spending crores of rupees when the situation remained the same,” said a railway employee.

He went on to add that the railway station had become a place for corruption. New projects were initiated in the name of development but nothing was being done to get rid of long queues.

“It is like a vicious circle. If a person boards a train without a ticket and gets caught, he will certainly try to bribe the TT. Why not rectify the fault at first step,” said another employee.

Panel to discuss issues on Monday

The Railway General Manager and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), including 15 Lok Sabha MPs and seven from the Rajya Sabha,  will meet at the railway station on Monday to discuss the problems being faced by passengers.