CHENNAI: Thousands of packages lie scattered near the Rail Mail Service (RMS) office of Chennai Central. Tagged with India Post stickers, they contain documents, money orders and other articles waiting to be sent to different parts of the country through trains. Kept out in the open, these packages are at risk of being picked up by passersby, or getting damaged due to absence of an overhead shelter.
All this because the RMS office was recently moved near the newly-opened pedestrian subway, close to Madras Moore Market Complex suburban station. It earlier functioned out of Platform 1 in Central, with convenient access to all other platforms.
But the most telling effect is inconvenience caused to commuters, whose path to both stations are obstructed. When Express visited the office, several people just were just staring at open postal articles, even as vans were parked nearby, unloading and loading sealed postal articles. “The situation will be worse during peak office hours on weekdays. It’ll be chaos on the ground, with people rushing to catch their trains,” said D Chandrasekaran, a Korattur resident.
The lack of proper facilities at the new office is rued by postal staff as well. The roof, covered by asbestos sheet, proves unbearable during summer. There is limited space for sorting newly-arrived articles. Also, they need to move articles much farther than previously. “It has increased burden, as we’ve to negotiate surging crowd and vehicles. While it took a mere five minutes to reach the trains before, now it takes more than 20 minutes, and more hands are required,” said a staffer who wished to remain anonymous.
When asked why the shift, a station official said, “There was an agreement between the postal department and railways. The former needed a dedicated area, which we provided. Gate 1, close to Platform 1, is closed and hence it would have been difficult for postal vehicles to gain access.”