Thane MP jeered over lack of amenities at station premises

Hundreds of commuters jeered Thane MP Sanjeev Naik when he came to inspect the Thane railway station premies. Aggrieved by the daily travel ordeal, rundown station infrastructure, unclean platforms and stinking toilets the irate commuters volunteered to shell out Rs 10 each everyday to revamp the Thane railway station which has a footfall of 5.50 lakh every day.

Does Thane have a world class or a third class railway station? '' was the angry refrain of most commuters who voiced their sufferings to Naik and officials of the central railway during a twohour meeting at the railway station.

Naik along with local Congress leader Bal Purnekar and divisional commercial manager Jagdish Prasad were greeted to a chorus of volatile reactions from commuters on their visit to Thane station.

Naik who claimed the credit for the Union railway ministry's announcement last year to turn Thane station into a world class premise, was heckled by the angry commuters who demanded to know when the railway authorities will pull up their socks and put the station infrastructure on the tracks.

What has angered Thanekars most is the fact that basic amenities are being denied to them when the CR pockets an annual revenue of Rs 65 crore to Rs 70 crore only from sale of daily tickets and CVM coupons.

" Where does all this money go and why even a fraction of these funds are not made available for sprucing up the infrastructure facilities at this most important railway junction on the Central Railway network,' the agitated commuters asked.