Oct 5, 2017

Safety, hygiene go off track

Ambala: Ambala Cantonment Railway Station, one of the busiest stations in the region, may never see a stampede-like situation as the one happened on a foot overbridge in Mumbai, which claimed 23 lives, as a very few passengers prefer to use overbridges to reach other platforms. They instead walk across the tracks, putting their lives at risk.
With a footfall of 25,000 passengers and 350 trains passing through it on a daily basis, the Ambala Cantonment Railway Station is also among the top revenue-generating stations across the country.
Importantly, the authorities have been lenient with trespassers or those crossing the railway tracks instead of using overbridges. Dinesh Kumar, divisional railway manager (DRM) of Ambala division, said, "Only a few people use the overbridges. We do not book the violators as no mishap has even happened at the railway station."
Besides the safety factor, the railway station also stands low on several parameters.
Cleanliness, hygiene in a mess
The Ambala Cantonment railway station was placed 73rd out of 75 category A-1 railway stations of the country in a recent survey on cleanliness released by the Union railway ministry. Since the last decade, there have been talks and promises to give the railway station a facelift and help reach "international standards." The then railway minister Mamata Banerjee had announced a facelift for the station in 2009. Even Ambala MP Rattan Lal Kataria repeated the promise ahead of 2014 Lok Sabha elections. However, such promises are yet to be fulfilled, say local residents and passengers.
A woman passenger said, "The toilets are in a terrible condition. It does not seem that these are cleaned at regular intervals. Even sanitary napkins often are found lying outside the overflowing bins." She said her parents had asked her not to use the public loos at the Ambala Cantonment Railway Station it might lead to diseases.

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