Jayakrishnan Vu
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, June 7: The city railway station is a gateway of sorts to thousands of tourists visiting the capital city, and if first impressions are anything to go by, they would probably form a very negative opinion of the city based on what they witness at the railway station: broken chairs, men lounging about in ladies’ waiting rooms, ‘paan’ stains everywhere, a leaking roof and generally unclean surroundings.
The dismal lack of amenities, coupled with a highly indifferent attitude of the powers-that-be, is all too apparent in the way things are run at the railway station.
“I didn’t expect the station to be in such bad shape,” says Anuj Agarwal, a tourist at the station’s waiting room who was visiting the capital city with his family. “There are hardly enough chairs in the sleeper-class waiting room. Many of the chairs are broken. The floor is wet, and we can’t put our luggage on the floor,” Anuj said.
The indifference of railway authorities is apparent when one visits the AC class waiting room. Spick and span, the waiting room leaves one with little to nitpick about.
“If this does not qualify as preferential treatment of passengers, I don’t know what else will,” said Anuj.
Most of the water coolers are either damaged or are dysfunctional. Water spills on to the floor, posing risk to passengers who are in a hurry to catch their train.
Installing an escalator at Platform 1 was a waste of money, say most passengers, as it never functions during rush hour. “When you want to take the escalator as you have heavy luggage with you or are in a hurry, it never works,” said Ram Kumar, another passenger.
Extension work of platforms five and six are meanwhile on at a snail’s pace.
“It would be nice if railway authorities paid more attention to bettering the facilities at the existing platforms before going for an additional two platforms. The foot overbridge at platform 3-4 is very narrow. The station is also very unaccommodating of differently-abled passengers as there are no ramps between platforms. Ramps will make it easier for wheelchair-bound passengers to go from one platform to the other. You find ramps at almost every major station in other states. This is hardly befitting of the stature of a capital city’s railway station,” said Bharati Roy, a tourist from West Bengal.
