Railways to float tender for upgrading its colonies

Ludhiana: Days after reports of dengue threats looming large over the railway colonies due to their poor upkeep, officials of the engineer department of Northern Railway have decided to soon float a tender to rope in a private construction company to upgrade its basic infrastructure. Those residing in these colonies have been struggling to get better facilities for the past several months with wild grass growing everywhere and sewerage getting choked every now and then, along with crumbling walls of houses.
The action has been taken after witnessing heavy rainfall for the past few days, which aggravated the poor living conditions at the railway colonies as it has become one of the best places for mosquito breeding, which has raised health concerns among the employees.
Families of railway employees had been continuously expressing their anger over the poor conditions of railway quarters by claiming that the railways keeps on promoting swachhta campaigns but it is limited to railway stations only. The authorities are not concerned about the condition of their colonies. There is no check on the workers deployed to clean the colonies.
One of the family members of a railways official who resides in these quarters on condition of anonymity said, “In the wake of poor conditions of railway quarters, most of the time rainwater enters their locality and remains accumulated on the pathways for several days and this then becomes a mosquito breeding ground,
He said, “Apart from that, due to poor conditions, families of railway officials have to face the brunt of insect bites due to the wild growth of congress grass in areas where there is stagnant water. Those residing here are in constant fear of getting malaria or some other disease. Two months back a snake had also come out from the same site which exposes the indifferent attitude of the authorities concerned towards the safety of railway employees.”
He further stated that, “There are as many as 13 railway colonies in the city and a total 1,770 quarters but most of them are unsafe. Besides, in some outsiders are also residing illegally.
Ludhiana railway station director Tarun Kumar said that, “A few days ago the engineering department of Northern Railway had held a meeting with local officials to discuss the road map for renovation of railway colonies in an advance way. Railways will soon float the tender to hire a construction company to commence the development work.”