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| The trench (top and above) near the entrance of Tatanagar station poses risk for vendors, passengers and employees alike. Pictures by Animesh Sengupta |
Vector fighters need to look no further for a battlefield than the city’s touted Tatanagar railway station.
A 15-feet-long trench — dug up last month at the entrance of the A-category station for construction of a drain — has turned into an appalling breeding ground of mosquitoes with authorities citing monsoon for delay in the project.
So, while vendors have shifted shop from the gate of the station, passengers risk the unhygienic surroundings to board trains from Tatanagar. Let alone sting trouble, the five-metre-deep trench poses serious threat to life and limb.
Sources said on Monday, a child had tripped and fallen in the hole. Fortunately for him, passers-by had noticed the mishap on time and initiated a rescue act. Not everyone, especially those who rush to board trains after sundown, may be as lucky.
“Construction of the drain, which was supposed to prevent waterlogging at gate of the station, never began. It has been 15 days or more since the trench was dug up. Mosquitoes are thriving in the stagnant water that has collected in the hole. I have shifted my shop from near the gate,” said a vendor, not willing to be identified.
Passengers, who are worst sufferers, rued that filth from the nearby urinal was being washed into the trench by rain, raising an unbearable stench. “It is very unfortunate. Tatanagar, which has earned A-category status, should be an example of cleanliness. But here, hygiene seems an alien word,” said Anil Agarwal, a passenger.
N.K. Kejriwal, a local businessman who often takes the train to Howrah, said he had recently lodged a complaint about the trench trouble with the station authorities, but in vain. “How can the railways delay construction of a drain at such a strategic location? The work needs to be given priority,” he added.
Officiating station manager of Tatanagar R. Prasad said they were aware of the inconvenience. “The project is supposed to be executed by the engineering department. The hole was dug up for construction of a drain to streamline sewage water. The work is probably held up because of monsoon,” he claimed.
Prasad, however, promised to take up the matter with engineers so that construction work is completed at the earliest.
A section of vendors, who sell newspapers, tea and snacks, remained sceptical. “The rainwater is aggravating the problem. You can see a swarm of mosquitoes near the trench at any time of the day. If the authorities planned to complete drain work after monsoon, why was the trench dug up so early?” a newspaper vendor, who has shifted business to Station Chowk, said.
He added that the least the station authorities could do for now was initiate bare minimum vector control measures like lining the trench with bleaching powder and spraying larvicides.
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