KOLKATA a metropolitan city is well connected to the suburban areas in north and south through railways. Thousands of people from both northern and southern suburbs travel by local trains to Sialda Station and then to the heart of the city every day. Local trains are the transport lifeline between the city of Kolkata and suburban areas.
Trains from Sialda Station towards north and south in the evening are many more times crowded than trains to Sialda at daytime. The inner ambience of train compartments with passengers more than they can accommodate is no less suffocating than that of prison rooms with criminals huddled together. The commuters push, jostle and fight one another to make room for themselves in the compartments.
People who board trains at Sialda Station take safe position in the compartments. Turmoil arises when trains from Sialda take stoppage at various stations. Trains depart Sialda Station, with each compartment congested and crowded. Adding to the congestion and crowd are the commuters who board the trains at successive stations next to Sialda.
The situation turns worse when some persons failing to make their way inside the compartments travel keeping their feet on the lower edge and holding the upper edge of the entrance somehow. Some people carrying heavy bags cannot manage to get down at their preferred stations because passengers on platforms start getting into the compartments when trains slow down the pace at the time of entering the stations.
A person with his wife and children on a visit to the city cannot rely on local trains from Sialda to reach his home safely. Such is the scenario to witness daily except on Sundays. The picture of lady’s compartments of these local trains is grimmer than that of general compartments. Many ladies who travel to the city for job purposes and on various other errands cannot go back their homes timely as they can’t manage to board trains due to excess crowd and congestion in the compartments reserved for them.
What is the worst is danger to the lives of the people who travel all the way to their home stations either by standing on the outmost edge of the compartments or hanging almost outside the compartments. At times, some of them face life-taking accidents which hit the headlines of newspapers the very next day. Traveling by local trains on the way from Sialda to suburban areas in the evening is a risky affair.
Developments are taking place in the heart of Kolkata to improve the day-to-day life of city dwellers. But, there is no improvement in the sorry state of local trains. Can the suburban people expect to travel at ease on the way to and back from Sialda Station in the regime of Mamta Bannerjee as Bengal’s Chief Minister?
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5 comments:
Nice post ....real life picture of a aam admi ....Mamata or Buddhadev the scene never changes
More or less true story of all metro city of India and its suburban areas.
Yes, both of you are right but still we hope for the better...
train horns for cars i have visited your blog and feel that we must do propper for people and this is for also duty of people to do proper fo theirself
You are absolutely right. As we know, our fundamental rights and fundamental duties go hand in hand.....
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