BENGALURU: Delay in completing the shelter at Platform 1A is inconveniencing passengers, who are exposed directly to the searing sun. Though the frame for the shelter was erected many months ago, the roof has not yet been laid. Many other civil works in the platform are also in a half-done state.
Four long-distance trains and one passenger train use the tracks running near this platform daily. The work has been entrusted by the Bengaluru Railway Division to the agency M V V Satyanarayana for a total cost of `1.61 crore. Passengers alighting and boarding the Guwahati Express, Hatiya Express, Bhuvaneshwar Express, Hamsafar Express and the Bengaluru Cantontment-Vijayawada Passenger need to make use of the platform.
“The work needs to be completed here as soon as possible,” said Himanish Das, a businessman who was boarding the Humsafar Express originating at this platform to reach Dhamanagar in Tripura.
Ravikant and his family were seated on one of the benches along the platform and partaking of their lunch. “Having a roof above will definitely help us in this heat. The structure has already been erected. I do not think putting the roofing will take much time,” he said.
A vendor at the adjacent platform (Platform 1) said, “It is better now because the sun is out. You should have seen passengers alighting at 1A platform during monsoon. People were running with their luggages to escape getting drenched.”
A railway source said some misunderstandings cropped up between the contractor and railway officials and this resulted in the delay in completion. However, a senior railway official said the contractor was overburdened with work. “He is involved in civil works at Hindupur railway station and had to complete the bridge connecting Metro and KSR railway station too. It is only due to other work that this project was getting delayed,” he said.
He added that all works on the platform, including the roofing would be ready by April.