Title - DRM pays surprise visit to rly junction

Bathinda:
The Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Ambala Division, Pardeep Kumar Sanghi, paid a surprise visit to the Bathinda Junction this morning. The visit was part of a routine inspection before the visit of the general manager, which is scheduled for the next month.The DRM was accompanied by eight other officers and inspectors. These officers included senior divisional operating manager Karan Singh, senior divisional commercial manager Gulshan and chief medical superintendent Dr Girija Prasad. The officers were intimated about the visit of the nine officers on Tuesday afternoon and the team landed at the junction on Tuesday night.The focus of the team was on reviewing the amenities provided to the public and passengers at the station. While the DRM appreciated the Bathinda Junction officers for paying attention to the sanitation of the station, he frowned upon various other things.While reviewing the waiting hall, he pointed out the maze of wires, non-availability of helpline and train numbers. He spent more than 15 minutes in the waiting hall and expressed his dissatisfaction over the computers, installed to display information of train timings.Shockingly, while the senior officials were on a round of the junction, the class IV employees could be seen cleaning the walls of the station with a wet cloth. He also pointed out that the new staircase was not built to satisfaction while the old staircase, built many decades ago, was better. The ticket and reservation counters did not display all the required information regarding the time-table of the trains, he said.

The DRM ordered that attention be paid to the maintenance of the waiting hall. He asked to build a new gate for the new parking area and asked that the maze of wires be cleared without any delay. He also questioned the junction officers about the kiosks outside the boundary wall of the railway station and ordered them to remove the same.

The DRM said some of the lapses had been pointed during his earlier visit too but the junction officers had not taken any concrete steps to address the problems.