BALANGIR: Controversies continue to stalk the Indian Railways which has again hit the headlines after the air-conditioner of Yeshvantpur-Puri Superfast Express went out of order for a distance of 1469 km, leaving the passengers severely inconvenienced.The incident comes close on the heels of passengers having a narrow escape after Ahmedabad-Puri Express rolled down on tracks without engine for 15 km on April 7.
Narrating his family’s train journey ordeal, Manoj Tripathy of Balangir said he and his wife Saibalini boarded the train at RK Puram, the railway station after Yeshvantpur, on Wednesday night. They had been allotted berths in three-tier AC coach no B3. Soon after the train left RK Puram, the AC stopped working in two out of three AC coaches in the super fast express leaving the passengers hot and sweaty.
A few minutes later, the passengers in both the coaches became suffocated as the windows were sealed and temperature high. The issue was brought to the notice of the Train Ticket Examiner (TTE) who said and things will be taken care of at the next station. However, no repair work was carried out even as the train continued its journey passing through stations.
The agitated passengers also pulled the chain at many places and complained about their plight. However, they were given the same assurance that the AC will be repaired and restored in the next station. After no Railway personnel showed up to repair the ACs, the TTEs said there was no point raising a hue and cry in the train and told the passengers to claim refund of their tickets.As per reports, the train passed through Railway Divisions of Bengaluru, Guntur, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Sambalpur besides two zones of South Central Railways and East Coast Railways but no effort was made to either replace the coaches or get the ACs repaired.
As many as eight other passengers, who got down at Balangir with the Tripathy couple, said they would move the Consumer Redressal Forum and seek justice. The incident has exposed the Indian Railways which took the passengers for a ride even though it claims to have upgraded passenger amenities, they rued.