Day after inspection, chaos, wrong parking of autos at Chandigarh railway station

Amarjot Kaur

Chandigarh, January 19

After Chandigarh Tribune carried a three-part series on the menace created by auto drivers at the city railway station, senior railway officials of Ambala Division commercial wing, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Government Railway Police (GRP) took stock of the prepaid auto booking booth on Tuesday. A day after the meeting, autos were still found stationed in no-parking zones. A bonfire was also lit inside the booth, which is said to have been lying defunct since the onset of the Covid pandemic.

The booth, manned by the GRP, lacks basic amenities like tubelight, fan or an electric heater in this biting cold weather. Made of tin sheets, the booth has a cast-iron bench and two small tables, along with a list of old auto fares.

Dheeraj, Deputy Superintendent of Police, GRP, Ambala Division, said, “Just yesterday, we had a meeting with top officials of the division from the RPF and the commercial department. It is wrong to set fire inside the booth, but cannot there be some compassion towards the auto drivers or our personnel who may have lit the fire because of the unsparing dip in the mercury?” Dheeraj assured that the booth would soon be made functional and the process to get it started was underway.

Sangeeta Kalia, Superintendent of Police, GRP, shared, “There is some jurisdictional problem with the booth and we are working on it. Soon, the SOPs for working of the booth will be in place.”

Even today, the sight of auto drivers swarming passengers on the railway platform, right at the entrance, pointed at the lackadaisical attitude of the station authorities towards the vexation of rail travellers.

“I had just kept my bags down, but the auto drivers at the platform of the station started harrowing me for a ride. I was on a train from Sainagar Shirdi to Kalka and it’s a long journey, as the train was already delayed. Fare of radio cabs is cheaper than what auto drivers charge here,” said Neha, one of the passengers.

Satish Malik, president of the union of auto drivers at the Chandigarh railway station, said, “I ask the auto-rickshaw drivers to not enter the platform, but they don’t listen. What can they do anyway? Passengers book radio cabs if auto drivers don’t catch a customer. Even auto drivers need to make some money, don’t they?”

At the railway station, autos have been parked in no-parking zones. One of the autos was parked right in front of the train engine near the entrance of the station, while others were parked along the exit road and even in the single-lane auto road in front of the station’s entrance.

Nitish Sharma, Senior DSP, RPF, Ambala Division, assured, “I have issued instructions. The RPF will conduct a drive against illegal parking.”

Rlys to take over IRSDC functions by March 31

• The Ambala Division has been directed to take over the functions of the IRSDC by March 31, informed GM Singh, DRM, Ambala Division. He shared that the auto menace would soon be resolved.
• “We have held a meeting with higher officials. An action plan will soon be prepared in this regard. The parking contractor has given auto drivers a place to park their vehicles inside the parking area. We will review everything and restrict the number of autos. We will take over the functioning of the IRSDC by March 31. Then on, we will review the contracts and see what can be done.”