PATNA: Patna Junction, a model station of the Indian Railways, is no longer the same now. Dirt, filth and chaos have become endemic these days at this premier station of the state capital falling under Danapur division of the East Central Railway. Unfortunately, this station has of late elapsed into a breeding centre of rodents, cockroach, mosquito and flies. Foul smell has been emanating from each platform of the station.
The entire circulating area is still not free from waterlogging causing much hardships to passengers. The railway parcel office end through which passengers often visit the Karbighaiya end, has been completely encroached and waterlogged making it difficult for pedestrians to walk freely.
Cleanliness, which used to be maintained round-the-clock on railway platforms here, is now a distant dream. Dirt and filth are dotted all along the railway tracks. Night soil are littered on platform tracks making it difficult for passengers to bear the stench. Besides, there is hardly proper space to move freely during peak hours in the concourse area of Patna Junction, thanks to petty vendors for encroaching the concourse area.
Ravi Shanakar, Binod and Prabhat Behari who had come to board train at Patna Junction early on Wednesday morning, told TOI that the platform no. 1 was so dirty that they could not tolerate foul smell. “Patna Junction was not so dirty in the past. The railways must wake up to the reality now,” they said, adding they were not given complaint book to register their complaint about such a deplorable condition of platforms at Patna Junction.
Akriti and Abhinav who travelled by Sampoorna Kranti Express from New Delhi on Saturday, said that they faced much hardship while negotiating the waterlogged circulating area. The main exit point of Patna Junction was so crowded that passengers could hardly walk freely with their luggage, they said.
Parking of vehicles in the main circulating area of Patna Junction is another major problem for those either visiting Patna Junction or alighting here from different trains. During peak time from 5 pm to 10 pm there is not enough space to park vehicles. As a result, people are forced to park their vehicles near Buddha Park on Fraser Road. But it is a Herculean task for passengers to carry their luggage to station during peak time.
Passengers are facing great difficulty, particularly on Tuesday and Saturday, due to huge rush of devotees at Mahavir temple. The normal movement of vehicular traffic often goes haywire on these two days near Patna Junction entrance point causing total jam. “Most of passengers had missed their trains due to chaotic condition at the main entrance point in the past,” said S R Singh, a passenger.
According to Danapur ADRM Randhawa Suhag, the railways has outsourced the cleanliness work at Patna Junction. “It would look into passengers complaints about poor sanitary condition at Patna Junction,” he said.