Title - Passengers feel the heat as fans remain non-functional at railway station

Ludhiana: Notwithstanding the tall claims of the railway authorities of providing state-of-the-art facilities to passengers at the city railway station, the ceiling fans installed on platforms have stopped functioning.Helpless passengers have no other option but to wait for their trains in sweltering heat. A visit to the railway station this afternoon revealed that not even a single fan on platforms number 2 and 3 was functional.Rudresh Kumar, who was to board a train to Amritsar, said: "It is very difficult to wait for a train under these circumstances. Not even a single fan is functional here.”Unable to bear the heat, an infant was crying continuously in his mother’s lap. The child’s mother, Suman, said: “I fail to understand why these fans have been installed when they don’t function. Our train is late by over 30 minutes. I wish I could have come late.”Passengers waiting in long queues were seen wiping sweat from their faces with handkerchiefs and towels. Some passengers were seen holding hand fans and newspapers to keep themselves cool.When contacted, station superintendent Ravinder Sharma said he was out of station.