Much the Indian railways talk about modernisation of its train services and railway stations, back in the yard of Jharkhand’s Chiyanki railway station under Dhanbad division of E C railways tickets for trains are sold in the torch light!
There is no light facility on its two platforms here and the whole complex plunges into darkness once the sun sets down. There is neither electricity nor solar panel here to light the station.
Passengers who come here at night fear darkness and prefer to sit near the houses there located close to the Chiyanki Railway Station and on hearing the whistle of the trains come running to their respective platforms.
Ramchalittar Thakur who runs a tea stall near platform number 2 here said, “As the station is sans any light facility passengers waiting for trains that come here between 7 pm to 11.30 pm just wait outside the houses of the unknown residents here as sitting in dark here is risky especially for the girl and women passengers.”
The lone ticket seller at this station Ramchander Chowdhury said, “At night I use torch light to book tickets. There was a proposal to install four lights on each of the 2 platforms here but it is wanting since decades. As there is no power supply here ticket sale is very much traditional and manual.”
Other residents vouched Chowdhury does not come late at night trains here and passengers just travel from here without proper ticket. Chowdhury denied this saying, “When there is no passenger for late night trains I do not come but if passengers are there I come rushing here for booking their tickets.”
The station has a high level platform but lacks facilities like toilet and its two tube wells give high content fluoride water said Jagdish Mehta. Here like Kajree station there is no foot railway over bridge.Small stations in Palamu have no facility to announcement of arrival and departure of trains, lamented Aashique Ansari who lives here in Chiyanki.For the passengers here there are more than a dozen cemented backless benches all in open as there is no shed on any of the two platforms.
Railway quarters at Kajree were in debris but here live RPF personnel and other Railway men in quarters and hence the need to further tone up this railway station is far great said BJP leader Kishore K Pandey.
Chiyanki railway station finds MGNREG labourers going out for job elsewhere while milk men use trains here to transport their 10,000 litres of milk a day by trains.