Prime Minister Narendra Modi will formally inaugurate the rail deck of the Digha-Sonepur rail-cum-road bridge on Saturday. But the station connecting trains between north Bihar and Patna still lacks basic amenities, including proper security and safety of passengers.
The newly inaugurated Patliputra Junction neither has a lock-up to keep criminals behind bars nor accommodation for the cops deployed at the station.
The station located in western Patna also lacks closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras to ensure proper surveillance.
Over a month has passed since commencement of train services from Patliputra Junction. Sources claimed that the strength of deployment by Railway Police Force (RPF) at Patliputra Junction is around 30, including an inspector and a sub- inspector. However, only a small room has been provided to them at the platform.
"The size of our room is so small that we can only keep a table and few chairs. There is no place to sleep and the constables have to always remain outside. Our post at the station lacks many set standards for any modern police station such as a lock-up, arms room, telephone operating system and others," said an RPF personnel deployed at Patliputra Junction.
Modi will flag off a new intercity train between Patliputra Junction and Lucknow on Saturday through remote control from an official event at Hajipur. Starting from Patliputra Junction, the train would go via Pahleja, Sonepur Chhapra, Siwan, Deoria, Gorakhpur, Basti, Gonda, Barabanki and finally to Lucknow. It will have two air-conditioned coaches as chair cars. Till date, all trains going to Lucknow from Patna used to go via Varanasi and Jaunpur.
Modi will inaugurate the rail section of Digha-Sonepur rail-cum-road bridge from the same event. On January 15, the commissioner of railway safety, P.K. Acharya, had given his nod that the bridge was ready to run passenger trains. The 75216 Patliputra-Barauni DEMU started a passenger train's maiden journey on the bridge on February 3.
People have been utilising the train service as an alternative to the Gandhi Setu but there have been several complaints in boarding trains from Patliputra Junction.
Suresh Prasad, a shopkeeper at Gola Road, who hails from Parmanandpur in Saran, complained about excessive fare being charged by autorickshaws. "The autorickshaw drivers charge Rs 10 per person for bringing people from Rupaspur rail overbridge (ROB) to Patliputra Junction. Normally, the fare for such a distance of around 1.5km is not more than Rs 5 but the auto drivers fleece the train passengers," said Prasad.
Mukesh Kumar, another commuter, claimed that there have been frequent incidents of chain snatching, theft and other crimes on the road connecting Bailey Road with Patliputra Junction. Sources claimed that 15 constables among the sanctioned 28 posts at the station would be deployed within a couple of days.
The two-storeyed building of Patliputra Junction has a rest room for travelling ticket examiners, wooden benches for passengers and drinking water facility. Lights have been installed at the three platforms through which five tracks pass. The platform can accommodate 24-compartment trains.
