Passenger Services Committee inspects Vijayawada Railway Station

Members of the Passengers Services Committee (PSC) constituted by Railway Board inspected Vijayawada Railway station on 15th September 2021. Shri Ramesh Chandra Ratn, Chairman, Passenger Services Committee, Shri Pranab Baruah, Shri Dugyala Pradeep Kumar, Smt. Babita Parmar, Shri Gangadhar Talupula and Smt. Baby Chanky took part in the station inspection programme and interacted with passengers. Shri D Srinivasa Rao, Additional Divisional Railway Manager (Infrastructure) Vijayawada Division, SCR accompanied the members of PSC throughout the inspection. The main objective of the inspection is to obtain passenger feedback on cleanliness, amenities, valuable suggestions for improvement, and recommending steps for execution and implementation of steps concerning consumer’s insights on passenger services to the Railway Board for implementation.

At the outset, Shri P. Bhaskar Reddy briefed the members about the Vijayawada Station profile, footfall, special amenities for divyangjan, and passenger services available. At Vijayawada Railway Station, PSC Members inspected AC waiting hall, Bapu waiting hall, cloakroom, RO water vending machine, fruit juice stalls, Pay & Use toilets and general waiting hall, and Ladies Waiting Hall on Platform No.1. Members inspected the South FOB and inspected drinking water taps and catering stalls on PF 2&3, and also the RO water vending machines. During the inspection, Members frequently interacted with passengers and obtained their feedback on cleanliness, passenger amenities provided at the station. They inspected all the catering stalls, availability of baby food, quality of water used for cooking food, hygiene, expiry date of the provisions used for preparation, safety precautions undertaken by the management, CCTV surveillance systems, and toilets. Members checked the licensee, vendors' ID cards, and license fee payment particulars at all the catering stalls. They inspected the quality of the water at the RO water vending machines, drinking water troughs with a TDS meter and found its quality well within the prescribed limit. PSC members inspected the A-Diet Express, newly opened Emergency Medical Centre, and Child Helpline Centre on PF No.1. PSC members appreciated the Child Helpline-1098 members for rescuing 348 children in the current year and supported their call to ‘Stop Child Trafficking’ by posing with the placards. Mega FOB was also inspected along with amenities for divyangjan.

After the inspection, Shri Ramesh Chandra Ratn, Chairman, Passenger Services Committee expressed satisfaction with regard to the cleanliness and Passenger amenities and maintenance at the station and advised the officials to, provide a greater number of CC cameras for surveillance and rectify the shortfalls. He also advised the officials to ensure that the announcements are given in three languages, as Vijayawada is a major junction with passengers from various parts of the country travelling here. He also said that Indian Railways is going ahead with great momentum under the stewardship of Hon’ble PM, Narendra Modiji by creating infrastructure and amenities on par with global standards. He also allayed the apprehensions of the public on the ongoing privatization row. Shri Ramesh Chandra Ratn, Chairman, PSC presented Rs. 25,000/- cash award for the upkeep of the station, RPF Staff, Child Helpline Staff, and Emergency Medical Centre.

In the afternoon, they took part in the review meeting at Divisional Railway Manager Office, Vijayawada along with Branch officers. Shri Shivendra Mohan, Divisional Railway Manager, Vijayawada briefed the members about the recent achievements, passenger amenities, performance, current projects, and the passenger-friendly measures adopted by the Division to ensure comfortable and convenient travel to rail users. DRM said that Vijayawada station is alone having a footfall of one lakh passengers with round-the-clock cleaning and maintenance activity. Committee members appreciated the hard work and dedication of the Division in dealing with such a huge volume of passengers every day. They said that amenities at Vijayawada Railway station are relatively best on Indian Railways and with good response and satisfactory feedback from rail users. They advised the Branch officers to tackle the menace of unauthorized vending, hawkers to check the revenue loss.

Shri M. Srikanth, ADRM, Operations; Shri P Bhaskar Reddy, Sr.DCM; Shri V. Anjaneyulu, Sr.DOM; Shri T. Valleswara Babji. Sr.DSC; Shri S. Muni Reddy, Sr. DEE/M; Shri R. Viswanath Reddy, Sr. DSTE; Shri Ram Chandra Sahoo, Sr. DEnHM, Shri Sridhar, DEN/East; Shri G. Somasekhar Naidu, DCM; Shri Ramana Rao, DEN/Bridges; Ms. Nusrat M. Mandrupkar, PRO; other officers and staff of Vijayawada Division participated in the inspection and review meeting.