Mohali railway station lacks basic amenities

Amarjot Kaur

Chandigarh, January 28

Security is not the only problem faced by passengers at the Mohali railway station. Besides a designated post for GRP and RPF staff, the station also lacks basic amenities such as a functional lift and a proper roof shed in the platform area.

At the station, one of the passengers, Pradeep Thakur, said, “It had been raining here for the past so many days. To board a train, one has to wait at the platform and the roof was leaking. The benches are few and far between. It’s quite inconvenient to stand and wait for the train. There is not a single eatery open here. The tuck shop on the platform is locked.”

The lifts too are not functional. The only way one can reach the platform is through a staircase, which makes it difficult for the elderly and the differently abled to access the platform.

A budget of Rs1.56 crore was reportedly sanctioned for upgrading the Mohali railway station on May 14, 2019, by the then general manager of the Northern Railway, TP Singh. Under this grant, the station was to get a makeover, with proper parking, lifts, escalators, canteen, waiting room and benches for train passengers. For now, even the car parking lot at the station is not manned by any contractor. One of the officials at the station said, “The parking here is free of cost. The previous contractor ran away at the time trains were suspended during the lockdown and never returned. Now, a new tender will soon be floated.”

Ambala Division DRM GM Singh said, “I will get these issues resolved in the next two days. Parking is an issue as no contractor turns up due to lack of volume. The grant was sanctioned a long time ago but installation of lifts got delayed due to Covid.”