Small railway stations falling under Dhanbad division and Moghulsarai division here in Palamu Commissionary comprising three districts Palamu, Garhwa and latehar are grossly neglected in terms of amenities for the passengers.

One such railway station is Kajree. It is a two-platform railway station. There is no toilet for male or female passengers. lady passengers are to sit behind bush here to ease themselves. There is one tube well whose water has high fluoride content said Gautam Singh who sells tickets here for 8 passenger trains that stop here. More than 60 other trains including long distance passenger trains and goods trains just pass through it a day.

On an average Rs 1,500 worth railway tickets are sold a day as per the version of Gautam Singh who is not a railway personnel but man of the contractor of this railway station Sunil Paswan.

There is no foot over bridge and as such passengers are bound to reach any of the two platforms by trespassing on the railway tracks. Passengers coming from the side of platform number 2 are bound to cross railway tracks to reach platform number 1 and vice versa.

Under section 147 of Indian Railway Act anyone found trespassing on railway premise, crossing railway tracks unlawfully is liable to be fined minimum 500 rupees that can be extended to 1,000 also and 6 month imprisonment or both.

lawyer Kishore Kumar Pandey has asked the railway authorities to explain if this fine or action is applicable here at Kajree railway station where a passenger able or disabled ( viklang) is bound to cross railway tracks to reach his/ her needed platform for trains when there is no foot over bridge of the railway here..

Pandey quipped, “If the railways are so concerned for the life of its passengers then it should build foot over bridge at all its stations where it is wanting.”

He said railways should not put its revenue earning before safety of its passengers as at Kajree as per the version of Gautam Singh if a day’s revenue of the railways is 1,500 then in a month it comes to 45,000 and in one year 5,47,500 and by this account this railway station should not be passengers’ unfriendly.

A K Tiwary Daltonganj railway station superintendent on the other hand claims that Kajree is a halt and is controlled by railways’ cabin there.

However railways own board just mentions Kajree in three languages Hindi, Urdu and English and no where halt is written.

Platform number 1 of this Kajree station is doubled up as cattle grazing ground. Three cows of Basudev Mistri were grazing here on platform number 1 on February 13 as said Mistri, “I always bring in my cows here on this platform since grasses near the platform is most palatable and my cows love grazing it.”

P K Paul Permanent Way Inspector (PWI) of EC railways here when apprised of this situation where a railway platform doubles up as grazing ground said, “We will cut these grasses. We are short of hands and thus this kind of situation arises.”

When asked as to why these small stations do not matter to officials where passengers sit in open in all seasons since there is no shed except for few cemented benches on platform number 1, which too are wanting on platform number 2, Paul could not give a satisfactory reply.