RAWALPINDI: Railway passengers are facing problem in getting edible items at the Rawalpindi station. They also complained about unavailability of drinking water at the platforms during Ramazan.

Two to three electric water coolers are installed in every railway station but in Rawalpindi the water coolers are not functioning, forcing the passengers to buy water bottles at exorbitant rates.

Railway Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique has time and again directed the railway administration to provide maximum facilities to the passengers but the directives seem falling on deaf ears in Rawalpindi.

“I visited all the platforms in search of water coolers but found none and had to buy mineral water for Rs80 per bottle against the market price of Rs40. Soft drink regular bottles were available for Rs50 each while biscuits and chips were also selling at higher prices,” said Rashid Malik, a traveller to Lahore.

Hasanaat Ahmed, who was travelling to Karachi, said she wanted to buy some edibles for her children but found everything at the Rawalpindi railway station costlier compared to Lahore and Karachi.

“Sweets and soft drinks are being sold at double rates. Pakora and samoosa are also dearer. My husband bought a packet of cigarette for Rs150 instead of Rs120.” She said her brother managed to fetch water from outside the railway station.

Other commuters told this reporter that due to the negligence of the authorities concerned, the railway station lacked basic facilities. They were of the view that the railway minister had been making tall claims about improvement in the revenue of the department and launching new trains but the condition of the railway station remained the same.

“The railway station does not have any water filtration plant,” said Naseem Ahmed, another passenger.

He said electric fans in the station were inadequate for the passengers. He also complained about dirty washrooms in the railway station.

Jahanzeb Raja, who frequently travelled between Rawalpindi and Lahore via a railcar, said the stallholders and railway officials deliberately kept the water coolers dysfunctional to sell their water.

Talking to Dawn, former railway minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, MNA, said during his tenure he had managed to install water coolers in all the railway stations. “But the current government is apparently working to snatch all the available facilities from the people.”

He said the administration should take measures to improve the condition of the railway stations and facilitate the passengers.

Railway divisional superintendent Munawar Khan could not be contacted for comments.

However, another senior railway official said had the divisional superintendent paid snap visits to the platforms the edibles would not have been selling at such exorbitant prices.

He said the issue of the faulty water coolers had been brought under the notice of the divisional superintendent but he refused to listen to it.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2014