City railway station in a mess

Sandeep Rana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 16

Ramesh Chandra Ratn, Chairman of the Passenger Services Committee of the Railway Board, on Wednesday lambasted Chandigarh station director Hari Deep and other officers for shortcomings on the premises.

Ratn, who was here for an inspection along with two other officials, imposed a fine of Rs 40,000 on different contractors for failure to maintain cleanliness, not keeping “Janata meal” at canteens and selling magazines not prescribed under the rules at the bookstore.

“Stand here for five minutes. What are you doing in the name of swachhta. Is the maintenance money going into the pockets of those looking after it? If the problem persists here, you have to pay from your salary,” the Chairman told the station director over poor maintenance and smell in toilets.

He then inspected a canteen and chided the staff there for not keeping the “Janata meal’ and not keeping the kitchen clean. The canteen on platform number 1 was fined Rs 5,000. Another canteen in another platform was also fined Rs 5,000 for not adhering to the norms and unavailability of the “Janata meal”. “Work seriously,” he told those running the canteen while asking for bills.

Moving further, Ratn fined a bookstore Rs 5,000 as it had not kept books as stipulated under the norms and had instead kept lifestyle magazines, which are not mandated.

He also took the officers to task over “poor vision” of CCTV cameras. On this, a police official told him that a proposal in this regard was in the pipeline. “I don’t want to know about the proposal. I only want to know why the security of the station is being undermined,” he said.

After an inspection of the railway station, Ratn, who was unsatisfied with the cleanliness, ordered a fine of Rs 25,000 on the contractor who looks after the cleanliness.

“I am giving a warning and imposing a fine also. This is negligence on the part of officers, who have to ensure things work here. The ‘four-and-a-half-year-old government’ needs execution,” he said, while cautioning the officers that in future, their salary might be deducted for negligence.

Ratn also pointed out shortcomings in the child care cabin and booking office, and also spoke about dirty dustbins and broken wheelchairs. The station director assured him that all shortcomings would be removed.

Says complete work by Jan 19

Expressing little confidence in the completion of the repair work on platform number 1 by the January 19 deadline, Ratn directed the officers concerned to ensure that it was done. “Looking at the pace of the work, it doesn’t seem it will be completed by the deadline. You must ensure it gets done,” he said. The repair of the track has affected eight trains.