TIRUCHY: The railways’ move to barricade the space in front of the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Kendra (PMBJK) outlet and the nearby Aadhaar Seva Kendra – both of which function on the premises of Tiruchy railway junction -- has hindered access for customers for the past three months.
While sources said that the portion in front of both the centres was barricaded to prevent vehicular parking, the public want the railway to remove it at least in the portion in front of the government pharmacy.
KP Srinivasan, an elderly customer at PMBJK, said, "I came here in an autorickshaw to buy medicine. As autos and other vehicles cannot be parked at the portion in front of the shop for a long time, I was in a hurry. I tried to scale the barricade and fell down. I didn’t suffer major injuries though. I fail to understand why the official who permitted barricading the spot didn't consider avoiding it at least at the portion in front of the pharmacy." TS Swaminathan, another customer at PMBJK, said,
“Though I told the RPF that I would take only a few minutes, he insisted that I use the pay-and-park facility. Therefore, I went all the way back and parked the vehicle at the parking spot near the third entry point at the front entrance, and walked all the way back to the medical shop near the main entrance. I roughly covered a kilometre to park the vehicle.
I wonder why the railway cannot allot dedicated parking space for those visiting PMBJK as the customers would leave within three or four minutes.” Meanwhile, Shabeen Begum, who visited the Aadhaar enrolment centre close to the pharmacy with her children, said,
"As the front portion is barricaded, I tried to enter through the side portion near the RMS centre. It was difficult to enter even through that side as there was barricading there too. The railway also has kept a lengthy ladder on a stand there. Even if one overcomes these obstacles, one can see so many bikes parked at the side portion blocking the entrance." When enquired, senior railway officials assured necessary steps to address the issue at the earliest.