The Diva Passengers Association has written a letter to railway officials demanding the resumption of regular local train service to avoid overcrowding. They have asked the authorities to fix the defunct ATVM at the station and highlight the problem faced by commuters due to the lack of multiple ticket windows.
It was a crowded Thursday morning at Diva station with the ATVM not working and only one ticket window operating there was hardly any space for the passengers to maintain social distancing norms
Krishna Nair, a local activist, said, “Around 3 lakh commuters travel to and fro this station every day and it needs better facilities. Multiple complaints to the officials have not yielded any solution. During this pandemic, with regular local trains still not running, there is serious overcrowding. This can lead to grave consequences.”
Adesh Bhagat, president, Diva Passengers association said, “We have given a letter to the railway officials and asked them to start regular trains soon to stop overcrowding. We have even raised the issue of the opening of limited ticket windows for ladies special trains. It seems the officials didn’t do their homework well and started trains in haste without thinking about the consequences.”
AK Jain, senior public relations officer of Central Railway, said, “We have asked the officials to repair the ATVM and see to it that they are maintained well. More windows for ladies special trains have been opened to manage the crowd and the call to start all regular locals will be taken soon. We have also requested offices to ensure staggered office timing, to reduce overcrowding.”
Diva is a junction station but lacks many basic facilities including toilets and sufficient ticket windows. As of now, it has only two ticket windows out of which one is often shut creating great inconvenience.
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