Passengers at Ludhiana Junction have raised concerns over lack of clean drinking water at the station, alleging that the available water cooler and other facilities are poorly maintained.
The concerns come amid a recent Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report that found total coliform bacteria, including E coli, in drinking-water samples collected from taps at 56 railway stations across the country. Ludhiana Junction, however, was not among the stations where contamination was detected.
Platform 1 has a water cooler, but passengers alleged that it is poorly maintained and that the area around it is often unclean. Platforms 2 and 3 have no water coolers and only drinking-water points, which passengers also claimed were not properly cleaned.
“I am a regular passenger and travel to Jalandhar or Chandigarh every week. I never trust the tap water here. The surroundings of the water cooler and water drinking booths are not clean, so I prefer carrying a water bottle or buying packaged water,” said Atul Mongia, a regular traveller.
The absence of coolers on platforms 2 and 3 means passengers have to cross the foot overbridge to reach platform 1 if they want cold drinking water, or buy a packaged bottle.
Neeraj Arora, a local resident, said the arrangement was particularly difficult for passengers who had to wait for hours because of train delays. “For some people, spending ₹20 on a bottle may not be an issue, but there are also labourers travelling from this station. What about those who have to wait here for hours, or patients travelling by train?” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Neeraj Arora, a local resident, said the arrangement was particularly difficult for passengers who had to wait for hours because of train delays. “For some people, spending ₹20 on a bottle may not be an issue, but there are also labourers travelling from this station. What about those who have to wait here for hours, or patients travelling by train?” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Station director Aditya Mehra, however, said, “There is no issue with the quality of drinking water at the station. Water from the drinking booths and cooler are tested 10 times a month and have consistently been found safe.”
“I will ask sanitation workers to ensure that the areas around the cooler and water booths are cleaned regularly so that passengers do not feel apprehensive in using them,” he added.
The station had earlier installed water ATMs that allowed passengers to refill bottles for ₹5. However, these were subsequently shut down because of maintenance issues.