Nagda: Amid ongoing pandemic, where stress is being laid on wearing. mask and maintaining social distance, Nagda railway station shows a different story as one can witness heavy rush at reservation counter san social distancing and face mask or shield.
Nagda Junction is a major railway station of the Western Railway network. It is ‘A’ category railway station of Western Railway Zone with all major trains bound for Mumbai, Delhi, Indore, Bhopal, and other major cities having halt here.
However, the availability of only one ticket reservation window at the railways station has now become a cause of concern as a passenger who has to stand in queue for hours hardly bothers to maintain physical distance or wearing any mask.
There is a seating arrangement for two officers in the reservation office, but reserved tickets are being issued from only one ticket window. Due to which passengers face a lot of problems and have to stay in the line for hours.
Many of the passengers claimed that many times they fail to get confirmed tickets due to the rush. Sushil Bansal, 29, a resident of Nagda narrating his plight said passenger trains were shut throughout the country due to Corona pandemic. At present, the operation of passenger trains has been resumed but all types of tickets are being provided only through the reservation.
In such a situation, sleeper seats, air-condition as well as seating seats are being reserved. The steps taken by the railway from the point of view of security is welcomed, but no facility was provided for the issuance of reserved tickets. Due to which there is anger among the citizens.
Another Sudhir Mehta, 59, who was waiting for his turn to get a seating ticket for Kota said before the pandemic, ticket price from Nagda to Kota was around Rs 35 to 40 in a passenger train, while Rs 65 for Express train. Now we have to spend Rs 55 on a passenger train and if we booked it online, we have to spend Rs 70, which is almost double. When it comes to Express train, we have to spend around Rs 110. Mehta said that a passenger has to spend about Rs 17 to 18 rupees extra to book their ticket online.
Often, various public orgnaisations have demanded that tickets should be provided even from unreserved counter to decrease the chaos. Also, the officers whose duty was earlier to issue unreserved tickets should be allowed to issue reserved tickets as well so that tickets can be received from more than one counter.
The railway administration also seeked arrangements to issue reserved tickets from more than one counter.
The publishers permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)