Costing Rs 26,000 per day to admn, tent at Ludhiana railway station in disuse for past five days

The entry of labourers to the railway station is from the Guru Nanak Stadium side while the tent to protect labourers from heat has been erected on the main gate side

The district administration has suffered a loss of Rs 1.3 lakh in five days due to the carelessness of some of its officers. They had installed a big tent at the railway station here to protect the migrant labourers, being sent to their native places in special trains, from the scorching heat at an exorbitant rent rate of Rs 26,000 per day, but the tent has not been in use during the past five days.

Tents erected by police near the main entrance of railway station to streamline crowd of labourers. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

Shramik trains to send the labourers to their native places in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, were started on May 5 from the railway station here.

Shramik trains to send the labourers to their native places in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, were started on May 5 from the railway station here. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

The railway station made entry arrangements for labourers from the main gate side for two days (on May 5 and 6). So the tent was also installed on this side.

But sensing the large number of labourers, the station authorities chose the rear side of the station, the Guru Nanak Stadium side, for entry of labourers from May 7. So, the administration also shifted the arrangements from the Guru Nanak Stadium side, but no one bothered to remove the tent, which has been not in use since then. Hence, the mere wastage of rent money.

Railway officials said they had informed the administration of change in the entry point, but they have no idea why the administration has not removed the tent from the stadium side.

Additional deputy commissioner of police (ADCP, headquarters) Deepak Pareek, when reminded of the futility of the tent, said he would ask the officials to remove the tent and return it to the tent house.