Pune: The Pune railway station, which was recently ranked 4th in the non-suburban 1 (NSG-1) category of railway stations, has failed to repair the air-conditioners (ACs) fitted in the upper class waiting room on platform number one for over five months. Thus, Pune Railway Division officials claims that the passengers receive better facilities at the station fell flat.
Meanwhile, according to sources, due to the lack of maintenance of waiting rooms, passengers have been facing inconvenience for a few months now. However, the Division has said that it is taking steps and will instal the new AC by Saturday.
In February, the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC) had taken over the management of Pune railway station and handed it over to a private party named BVG.
However, the IRSDC, which is managing the Pune railway station, said that there was a complaint regarding water leakage from the AC.
“We had received a complaint from passengers about AC not working. We found out that there was a leakage from the AC. We immediately removed the AC from the waiting room. We are installing a new AC in the waiting room by this Saturday,” said IRSDC Coordinator Ramesh Khot.
The passengers, waiting inside the room, said that the fan inside the room was not sufficient and just one AC was working, which too failed to provide cool air.
Ramesh Sharma, a passenger, who was waiting for his train with family, said, “The Railways was providing good facilities, however, they have failed to maintain it. We don’t know who is maintaining the station. All we know is that it was maintained by Indian Railways.”
Railway Pravasi Group President Harsha Shah said, “Since long, the AC has not been working. I have written to the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) several times. They assured me that necessary action would be taken. But even after four-five months, the situation remains the same.”
As per the contract between IRSDC and BVG, it will act as ‘facility manager’ for Pune station for a period of three years and the contract can be extended for three more years.
The company is responsible for garbage collection, segregation and disposal, landscaping maintenance, pest control and disinfection, management of parking, management of advertisement, management of commercial areas under the Commercial Development Assets, repair and maintenance of buildings, platforms and its shelter, roads, parking areas, subways, provision of wastewater collection, treatment and disposal system and management of water supply system.