In a bid to make railway commuting easier for scores of passengers who travel by the Harbour line, a group of Navi Mumbai's Aam Aadmi party have started making visits to determine issues faced by the commuters
A group of about 20 workers from Navi Mumbai’s Aam Aadmi Party were recently seen visiting two major railway stations of the satellite city to check the condition of various facilities made available to passengers travelling on the Harbour line. Party workers visited Nerul and Kharghar stations on April 13 and plan to cover more stations in the next few days.
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With the aim of documenting all the problems faced by commuters, the party workers plan to take these issues to the concerned authorities in the railway board so that concrete steps are taken to correct them. These checks will be conducted in phases. During their visit to Nerul and Kharghar stations, party workers found issues related to ticketing, cleanliness, hygiene, safety and security of passengers, general amenities at the station and encroachment. They even spoke to passengers asking them about their problems.u00a0
“We feel that Harbour line stations are often given step-motherly treatment. At the two stations that we visited we found fans were not working, there were no adequate dustbins for garbage disposal,” Ravi Srivastava, Navi Mumbai convener of Aam Admi Party said. Commuters were asked to fill a survey form, which would be used as documentary proof when the party approaches the railway board.
Talking about the deplorable condition of the stations in detail, Srivastava said that at Kharghar railway station, the passenger fare board displayed old fares going as far back as 2003 and many of the Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVM) don’t function. Even the Coupon Validating Machines (CVM) were found broken. “At Nerul railway station the first-aid kit did not have medicines,” said Srivastava. He added that this is just the beginning of this initiative and they will survey other major stations of the satellite city.