Vehicles not safe at Velachery station
Risky space:Commuters say a number of thefts have taken place at the Velachery railway station due to the absence of parking attendants.S. R. Raghunathan
No parking contractor for more than nine months; bicycles prime targets
Commuters who park their vehicles at the Velachery railway station are still waiting for a parking contractor to be appointed by Southern Railway.
It has been more than nine months since the railway station had a parking contractor. Train users visiting the railway station on two-wheelers and cycles are parking their vehicles with a sense of apprehension that their vehicles are not safe.
More than 50,000 persons use the railway station and the parking yard located on the north side is predominantly used by the commuters for parking their vehicles. With the railway station having no parking contractor to take care of the sprawling parking yard, it has become easy for anti-social elements to steal vehicles. Particularly, bi-cycles have become prime targets for the offenders, as it is hard to identify them and can be easily taken away.
M. Ramesh, a resident of Kathiravan Nagar in Velachery, parked his new bicycle at the parking yard on Sunday and on returning from his workplace in the evening, was shocked to find no trace of his cycle. He rued that even if any complaint was lodged with the station master, no steps were being taken.
Several railway stations on the Mass Rapid Transit System remain without parking contractors, resulting in commuters facing severe hardships. Moreover, with the Velachery railway station being used as a multi-modal hub, the commuters want Southern Railway to take steps at the earliest to appoint a railway contractor.
A senior official of the Southern Railway said tenders had been called for parking contractors at the Chepauk, Mundagakanni Amman, Indira Nagar and Triplicane railway stations. At the Velachery railway station, parking contractors are not evincing any interest in the parking tender called earlier, he added.
No comments:
Post a Comment