A B-category railway station, which hosts 15 pairs of trains and witnesses an average daily footfall of 20,000, sports dry taps and locked toilets in the name of passenger convenience.

Welcome to Adityapur - one of the oldest halts under Chakradharpur division of South Eastern Railway.

Barely 6km from Tatanagar, the station on Howrah-Mumbai main line stopped receiving supply from the drinking water and sanitation department last month while the lone hand pump on the premises conked out three weeks ago. To compound woes, the toilets - renovated last year - are kept under lock and key to prevent thefts despite the average waiting time on platforms being 45 minutes on normal days and two hours when train schedules go haywire.

"We have no choice, but to relieve ourselves in the open. Women have a tougher time. Since all the six taps are dry, we have to carry drinking water bottles in addition to luggage," complained Krishna Goswami, a passenger on Wednesday.

The main administrative building of the station and the circulating area received a facelift last year with funds from South Eastern Railway. But, drinking water crisis has remained a challenge.

Station manager B.C. Patro, who is also the chief yard master, blamed the scorching summer. "The drinking water and sanitation department is not able to supply water because sources dried up in peak summer this year. We are facing such a crisis for the first time. The submersible pumps at the station have failed, apart from the hand pump, owing to depleting groundwater," Patro said, pinning hopes on the approaching monsoon.

As a stopgap arrangement, the senior railway official said that Adityapur Notified Area Committee had sent them water in tankers, which was being stored in drums for passenger use.

On the toilets being locked, Patro said it was deliberate to keep thieves away. "We have intentionally kept the loos locked because local slum dwellers and vendors who use the facility steal fittings. The toilets were renovated only last year. They are opened only during rush hours."

The station manager added that Chakradharpur division had floated tenders twice, inviting private parties to run the toilets in pay-and-use mode, but had found no takers. "Maybe, private bidders were not satisfied with the terms and conditions."

Raising concerns about the lack of basic passenger amenities, vice-president of Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) Vijay Anand Moonka, who is also the chairman of SCCI's railway committee, said they would take up the matter with authorities at Chakradharpur and the SER headquarters in Calcutta.

Functionaries of Chotanagpur Passengers' Association said at a time when there were plans of converting Adityapur into a satellite station of Tatanagar, the authorities should pay serious heed to these teething problems.

"Adityapur hosts some major trains like Tata-Alleppey Express, Tata-Patna South Bihar Express and Tata-Chhapra Express. Developing this station will help decongest Tatanagar. Besides ensuring running water and clean toilets, there is also the need to extend platforms and overhead sheds," said A. Tiwary, a senior functionary of the association.