Bhojpuri videos, cheap food at railway stations for Chhath puja rush

November 14, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 10:53 am IST - NEW DELHI:

Special ticket counters, affordable food, drinking water, toilets and LED screens have been provided at New Delhi and Anand Vihar railway stations.Photos: Sushil Kumar Verma

Special ticket counters, affordable food, drinking water, toilets and LED screens have been provided at New Delhi and Anand Vihar railway stations.Photos: Sushil Kumar Verma

Sprawled on a thick green carpet, 40-year-old Anil Kumar is transfixed on the giant screen showing a Bhojpuri music video as the shamiana above covers him from the afternoon sun.

A couple of years ago, Mr. Kumar could have been jostling with thousands of other people for breathing space around this time.

Mr. Kumar is one of the estimated five lakh additional passengers who would be taking a train out of Delhi for east India to be at home just in time for Chhath Puja celebrations.

The train that would take him to Darbhanga in Bihar was scheduled to leave at 7 pm, but fearing he might not get space in an unreserved compartment, Mr. Kumar reached the New Delhi Railway station before 2 pm.

To ensure that thousands of passengers travelling during the festival season don't overcrowd the platforms by arriving hours before their trains depart, 'containment areas' in the shape of these shamianas have been erected at New Delhi and Anand Vihar railway stations with special ticket counters, affordable food, drinking water, toilets and LED screens for information and entertainment.

While special trains have been added to cater to this festival rush, the almost 50,000 passengers descending at Delhi's major stations every day creates a huge challenge for the Delhi Division of Northern Railway. Railway officials, however, have been put in many special measures to ensure that the immense crowd doesn't lead to a chaos at the stations.

“The number of passengers we transport during the Diwali-Chhath week, is equal to the one third of Australia's population,” said Arun Arora, Divisional Railway Manager, Delhi Division.

“The division transports almost one million passengers every day but during Diwali and Chhath festivals it has to execute the challenging and unparalleled task of transporting almost 75 lakh passengers during one week which includes an additional 5 lakh Chhath travelers.” he said.

“This requires extensive coordination, deployment of additional resources and close monitoring of the dynamic situation on a day to day basis,” he said.

This Mr. Arora said that the crowd management at Delhi's station during festival season is being reviewed and monitored by Railway Minister Mr. Suresh Prabhu and Minister of State for Railways Mr. Manoj Sinha.

“The commissioning of extended waiting areas outside New Delhi and Anand Vihar railway stations with arrangements of Bhojpuri video programmes have been adopted as a new concept under the direction and initiative of the Minister of State for Railways,” Mr. Arora said.

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