Amritsar MP urged to address accessibility, safety concerns at railway station

Amritsar Vikas Manch and the FlyAmritsar Initiative have urged Member of Parliament from Amritsar Gurjeet Singh Aujla to take up long-pending accessibility and safety concerns at the Amritsar Junction Railway Station with the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Northern Railways.

In a letter addressed to the MP, Yogesh Kamra, general secretary of Amritsar Vikas Manch and convenor (India) of the FlyAmritsar Initiative, highlighted several infrastructure deficiencies that he said continued to inconvenience passengers, particularly senior citizens, women and specially-abled travellers.

The organisations, in the letter, claimed that, despite the expansion of platforms at the railway station a few years ago, platforms 6 and 7 remained inaccessible for passengers with reduced mobility.

Kamra said, while a duct for an elevator had been constructed earlier, no operational lift had been installed so far.

He also raised concerns over the “unsafe” design of ramps connecting platforms at the station entrance, stating that these were not properly levelled with railway tracks.

According to the letter, this creates a hazardous passage for wheelchair users and people transporting goods through carts, increasing the risk of accidents.

Calling for urgent administrative intervention, Kamra said the required improvements did not involve major capital expenditure, but rather effective execution and monitoring by the authorities.

The letter proposed a comprehensive safety and maintenance mechanism for elevators and escalators at the station.

Among the suggestions were the installation of emergency communication systems in lifts, mandatory daily monitoring registers for elevators and escalators, strict enforcement of Annual Maintenance Contracts (AMC), and CCTV cameras linked directly to the Station Master’s office for real-time monitoring and rapid response during technical failures or emergencies.

Kamra said addressing these concerns would significantly improve the experience of lakhs of tourists — including pilgrims — and area residents, who used the railway station daily.