Two major projects involving Patna Junction have failed to start this year leaving passengers confused over comfort.
Turning Patna Junction a Wi-Fi (Rs 20 lakh project cost) zone and setting up world-class executive lounge (Rs 1.5 crore project cost) outside platform No. 1 was seen as dream project of East Central Railway.
However, both the projects have fallen flat and nothing has happened with regard to providing these facilities to cater to the need of passengers. The Wi-Fi project was about to be completed by January and the executive lounge plan is delayed for the past two-and-a-half years.
Both projects were about to be executed on a public-private partnership mode but nothing much could be seen on the ground. In fact, at one stage, the plan of executive lounge went to black hole when the bidders refused to show any interest in the project citing reason of not getting their money back with profit margin.
However, the ambitious project, which entails development of a 100-seat lounge offering an array of state-of-the-art facilities, was being executed by Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) and Indian Railways.
About the reason of the executive lounge project not going anywhere, a senior IRCTC official on condition of anonymity said: "The last bidding on this project took place on November 11, 2014, in which 10 bidders were present. Out of them one has been selected as well. Now, it is up to the railways to give green signal to start the project."
As things stand now, the project does not seem to be going on the right track and expected to delay further.
Similar situation persists with the Wi-Fi plan as well which is supposed to be executed by RailTel Corporation of India.
ECR chief public relations officer Arvind Kumar Rajak said: "The Wi-Fi project was launched as a pilot project first in Bangalore after that we were supposed to get report from RailTel. Based on it, it was supposed to be executed at other A1 category stations, including Patna Junction. However, the ECR has not got any report till date."
