Indian railways having become one of the largest mass movers across the world, the department is now seeking suggestions from the people at large and is also acting on them as far as possible to better things for them. A resident of Haridwar has recently served a 17-point suggestion to the department during an interactive programme held at the Railway Officers’ Club in New Delhi where 75 members of the Railway Advisory Board were present. The suggestions are now under the consideration of the Indian Railways.
It is learnt that Dayashankar Vidyalankar from Haripur Kalan in Haridwar gave in writing 17-point suggestion to the Railway Ministry for enhancement of the railway facilities. It is also learnt that his earlier suggestion for expanding the Raiwala railway station is being presently acted upon and another suggestion of increasing the halting time of the trains at Motichoor railway station is under consideration.
Speaking to The Pioneer, Vidyalankar said, “Haridwar being a city of fairs and fests, hundreds of thousands of tourists/pilgrims visit it every year. However, the only stoppage for trains after Haridwar is Dehradun. During the fests, a large number of VIPs come and the peope face acute traffic congestion on the highway and other roads. They find it difficult to board trains and are forced to go to Dehradun to catch trains. If the trains are halted at Raiwala station for a few minutes the problem can be resolved.”
He said he had appealed to the General Manager, Indian Railways to raise the number of the general compartments instead of the sleeper and AC coaches “Around 80 per cent of the passengers travel in the general compartments. The dearth of the adequate number of general compartments in trains is making them over-crammed. While ideally 60 passengers should be in such a compartment over 300 people are found jostling for a little space in it. Things should now change for the better,” he added.
Besides, he suggested complete ban on the use of the plastic items in the trains. “I have suggested them to allow the food items produced in the country to be sold in the trains and the station premises. This aside, I have suggested the department not to allow sale and consumption of bananas and peanuts which dirty the trains and the stations,” Dayashankar said, adding that the Railway Department’s intiative to seek suggestions from the common people is a laudable one.