Citizen Connect Chennai: Concrete sleepers, barricades make Villivakkam railway station ‘fortress’
Providing a solution with cheap, basic items is jugaad, but railways in Villivakkam have effectively blocked the free movement of wheelchairs of the physically challenged at the station with their ‘innovative’ move.
Steel barricades and concrete sleepers blocking free movement of people at the Villivakkam railway station
CHENNAI: Jugaad, one of the recent non-English words added to the anglo-saxon lexicon, has a new-found example at the Villivakkam railway station, where authorities have utilised concrete sleepers used on tracks to block canny commuters parking vehicles in front of the booking counter, but with a twist in the tale.
Providing a solution with cheap, basic items is jugaad, but railways in Villivakkam have effectively blocked the free movement of wheelchairs of the physically challenged at the station with their ‘innovative’ move.
Along with concrete sleepers, steel barricades have also been erected which makes crossing the stretch more like illegally going through a fenced international border, commuters lament.
Obstacles which block the path of the commuters could be commonly found across the city. But this one found at the Villivakkam railway station’s South entrance is unique.
“The concrete sleepers and steel barricades are making it tough to cross the stretch. Wheelchair users are more affected as there is no space or ramp for them to reach the platforms. During night when the commuters are in a rush after work there is a chance of hitting and falling down. There were instances where the senior citizens fell down hitting the sleepers,” said T Sadagopan, an activist.
“During rains when the city gets waterlogged, this could pose more danger if the area is covered with water. These sleepers would be left unnoticed,” added Sadagopan.
When DT Next visited the station it was found that the steel barricades and concrete sleeper structures cover the whole of the entrance. People nearby said that they are kept so that the vehicles do not enter the station premises but this could have been done without troubling the commuters.
When contacted an official attached to Southern Railway said that the steel barricades were kept after many commuters started parking in front of the ticket counter causing a huge hindrance to passengers. He stated that the concrete sleepers are a temporary measure taken by the Railways.
