Mumbai: Leaky roofs show holes in Central Railway's work

Brackets have been placed at Kurla station but the roofs are nowhere to be seen

All that Mumbaikars want is a roof above their heads, especially when they have to travel long distances while it pours outside. But, unfortunately, the Central Railway (CR) fails to meet even this basic need. After a sustained coverage by mid-day regarding the absence of roofs over platforms at several stations, the CR fixed most of it, but rains have exposed their shoddy work. It seems the work was done in a hurry, as whenever it rains, the roofs at most stations start leaking.

A visit to Thane station on Wednesday revealed the truth. The roof over platform number 4 was found leaking at places. A regular commuter, Akshay Datar said, "The roof on platform number 4 is leaking everywhere. The railways seem to have done the work in a hurry. The situation is the same on other platforms as well. The floor tiles have also come off at places."

Another commuter said, "The station manager and other staff do not seem to step out and see what the condition is like. Even it seems the engineering department of CR has failed to monitor the work properly."

Meanwhile, a visit to the Kurla station revealed that brackets have been put up towards the end but the roof is yet to be placed.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a CR spokesperson said, "We will take up the matter with the engineering department and fix the problems as soon as possible."

However, a Western Railway spokesperson said almost all the works listed at their stations had been completed except at a few locations where the roofs had to be removed for the ongoing construction work of foot-over-bridges.

The roofs at Thane railway station leak whenever it rains

Roofs listed under rail kosh

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had listed roofs over platforms as one of the utilities to be constructed with the help of funds under the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh. The bank was set up in 2017-18 with a corpus of Rs 1 lakh crore for a period of five years for safety related works.

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