Times of India: Thane: Thursday, 08 May 2014.
Central
Railway (CR) authorities are under the spotlight for failing to provide basic
transport facility to ferry the injured to the hospitals.
Responding to
a Right to Information (RTI) query by city advocate Suyash Pradhan about the
availability of ambulance services outside each station on the CR line, the
authorities said that private ambulances are parked round-the clock only at
Thane and Dombivli stations between the Thane-Badlapur stretch.
"At
other stations, ambulances are on call basis and the list of private ambulance service
providers is circulated to all stations to be summoned as and when
required," said senior divisional commercial manager Narendra Patil.
"Commuters
between Thane-Kalyan contribute in crores to the CR from the purchase of season
tickets and monthly pass. The safety of the commuter should ideally be
paramount.In the last one year alone 546 accidents were reported close to
Kalyan station. The frequency of the fatalities due to commuters falling off
trains between Diva and Thane is scary and there is a dire need to have a 24x7
ambulance outside these stations,'' said Pradhan.
"The
death tally on the CR stations has increased in the last four years from
1,917 persons in 2009, the toll has increased to 2,009 in 2000. The injured
tally has also gone from 1,446 in 2009-10 to 1,480,'' said Omprakash Sharma,
secretary of the Thane district railway passengers association.
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