Rupsa: Passengers at Rupsa Railway Junction under South-Eastern Railway are facing various problems in purchasing tickets as the booking counter has been shut down indefinitely.
According to sources, one of the two counters at the railway junction has been shut. Now, with just one ticket counter open, women and senior citizens have to wait for hours in queue for reservation, tatkal and cancellations.
The queue was so long Monday that the passengers were seen standing from the ticket counter to the platform. Meanwhile, both Baripada-Bhubaneswar Superfast Express and Bagha Jatin passenger train arrived at the station.
Passengers standing near the platforms were panicked as the two trains arrived at the same time. In a bid to avoid any untoward incident, the passengers ran helter skelter creating a scene of havoc in the station.
Unfortunately, more than 50 passengers had to return home without getting tickets. On the other hand, some passengers on emergency work preferred to travel without tickets only to be confronted by the TTEs who extract huge amount of money or penalty.
Due to the monopoly of the departmental officials, Ticket Counter No. 1 has been closed since October 5, 2017. After protests by Anchalika Vikas Parishad members, the counter was reopened only to be closed again without showing any credible reason.
Anchalika Vikas Parishad’s president Bhagawan Mohapatro, secretary Sudhakar Giri and member Niranjan Barik threatened to protest if the South-Eastern Railway authorities do not reopen the closed ticket counter.
When contacted, station manager Sripati Routray said due to the staff crunch it is impossible to open the ticket counter.
PNN
