Lack of prospective bidders for a full-fledged pharmacy at Chennai Central station has put the Southern Railway in a fix.
The station has not had a medical shop since 2011 after the licenses of the two pharmacies that were operating at the station got expired. Since then, repeated tenders have been called. However, none has shown any interest. Low profits is cited as the reason.
Every day, on an average, at least four lakh people board trains from Chennai Central. Many of them are women and senior citizens. As a temporary measure, emergency medicines are sold at Ramakrishna book stall in the old concourse and in the passenger care centre, but not many are aware of the facility.
“Unlike suburban stations where commuters travel for a short distance, passengers at Central railway stations are long distance travellers. A medical shop at the station is a prerequisite,” said S. Venugopal, a regular commuter from Villivakkam.
For the last three years, since the closure of the two medical shops at the station, Venugopal has been writing to various senior officials of the Southern Railway. In its recent reply, dated March 2012, the executive assistant to the divisional railway manager agreed to the closure of the medical shops due to expiry of contract period and said tenders were floated but could not be finalised as the eligibility conditions were not met.
A public interest litigation (PIL) was also filed by advocate A. Malathi at the Madras High Court. In November 2012, the First Bench comprising then Chief Justice M. Y. Eqbal and Justice T .S. Sivagnanam directed the railways to state when it would provide the facility including emergency medical care at the Chennai Central railway station. Subsequently, the Southern Railway roped SRM University to set up round-the-clock medical centres at Central and Egmore railway stations in 2013. However, the Central station is yet to have a full-fledged pharmacy. “Steps would be taken to have the facility at the station soon,” said a railway official.
