[Indu Chukhu]
YUPIA, 15 Feb: The Naharlagun railway station in Yupia is in an extremely pathetic condition.
While entering the station, visitors are greeted with a foul odour that is intolerable without a facemask. The railway tracks are strewn with trash and plastic disposables. The dustbins on the platform and the foot overbridge connecting to the other platforms are unattended.
The railway station has only a single set of general toilets for males and females, and a single set of accessible toilets for disabled males and females.
The toilets are left unattended and are not cleaned. There is no dustbin, or bucket, or water in the toilets, rendering them unfit for use. This situation forces every passenger to use the toilets meant for disabled persons.
Despite the presence of water facility in the accessible toilets, the toilets themselves are not properly maintained, and lack basic cleanliness.
The water facility area is also not clean, and there are open drains clogged with plastic and other rubbish.
Passengers have complained multiple times about the foul odour, the lack of cleanliness, and the state of the toilets, but no action has been taken to remedy the situation.
On being asked, the assistant Station manager of the railway station was unable to provide any reasonable response, but claimed that “the railway station is cleaned every morning and evening before the departure of the trains.”
Despite being cleaned twice a day, the station remains in an unhygienic state.
Opened in April 2014, the Naharlagun railway station has just three platforms with four passenger trains originating from the station, and a couple of goods trains.
