Facilities at
Coimbatore Junction
At the Coimbatore Junction, a battery car is operated to serve the aged and persons with disabilities. But, it can be driven only up to the staircase after which they have to use the steps to come down. Likewise, the car can pick the passengers only from the staircase point at the platform to the coaches. The railway authorities can construct a railway bridge from the cycle stand on the front side and from the parcel office from the back side leading to all the six platforms to ease the driving of battery car. Also in cities such as Bengaluru, Chennai, Madurai and Tiruchi, the platforms can be reached directly from the road. Only in Coimbatore, staircase is the only way to reach the platforms. I request the railway authorities to prepare a mini master plan and solve this issue.
R. Ragavan,
Coimbatore.
Coach position
Small as well as major railway stations display the coach position clearly in electronic boards. But Coimbatore, though being a major junction, is doing nothing to provide this essential information to commuters. This creates lot of confusion and the passengers have to rush to find the coach and board the trains. Also, I travelled twice from Mayiladuturai to Coimbatore in the last fortnight. On both occasions, there was no TTE to check the tickets. Why this negligence?
S. Balasubramanian,
Coimbatore.
Need for an ATM
From being a little known place about several decades ago, Finger Post has now become one of the much sought after places for people from different parts of Ooty and adjoining places. Having grown into a busy area, it has schools, Emerald Heights College for Women, Joseph’s Industrial School, Government Polytechnic College, Magalir Cooperative Bank, a post office, Tamil Nadu Guest House and houses for judges and police officials, besides cottages and lodges. Added to these, a huge multi-storied complex to house more than a hundred Government departments, now functioning in rented buildings, is coming up at Finger Post. Steps are being initiated to have a court complex with residential quarters for District Judges and other Government officials. In view of the aforesaid factors, it is earnestly hoped that any one of the nationalised banks would come forward to set up an ATM kiosk at Finger Post.
J. Balakrishnan,
Udhagamandalam.
Facilities for passengers
Ooty is one of the important tourist spots of the country. People not only from India but also from many parts of the world visit this town. But the passengers who come to bus stand find it difficult as there are only less number of seats for them to sit and wait for the bus. Also the surroundings are not kept clean. Also, the transport authorities do not announce the arrival and departure of buses. This causes unnecessary tension for the commuters.
I request the authorities to make necessary arrangements to keep this area neat and clean and also provide proper seating facility for passengers.
G. Rajesh Gopal,
The Nilgiris.
Water in train toilets
It was a pleasing and encouraging sight to read about the Salem Divisional Manager Subranshu interacting with the travelling public in the Dhanbad-Allepey train ( The Hindu , May 31), regarding the passengers’ requirements. He seems to be passenger-friendly, who has been sincere in executing passenger amenities in Salem Division.
So, I would like to bring to his notice about the cleanliness in trains. Recently, my daughter had travelled to Mumbai in the superfast Coimbatore-Bikaner Express. The compartments of 3-tier a/c were dirty. The toilets did not have enough water. Regarding the overall cleanliness, less said, the better. If this is the case for such prestigious trains, one can imagine the plight of sleeper class passengers in other express trains.
I suggest that the Southern Railway can dig borewells in every major station such as Coimbatore, Erode and Salem and use the water for toilets in all the compartments. The expenses may not be high, considering the good revenue of the Salem Division. Let us hope that Salem Division will give more priority to the upkeep of major stations such as Coimbatore.
K.R. Venkataramani,
Coimbatore.
Rename train
There are two intercity trains leaving Coimbatore, one to Chennai and the other to Mangalore in the morning. While there is no confusion for the public in Coimbatore on this, passengers who are new to Coimbatore and travel by these trains, especially by buying open tickets, are just getting tickets by asking for tickets for intercity train without indicating the destination in the counter. After getting the ticket, they have to spend time in clarification since both the trains depart within a gap of 15 minutes. And this delays issuance of tickets for others who are standing in the queue.
To overcome this problem, I request the Railways to rename the Coimbatore-Chennai intercity train as Siruvani Express in both the directions.
Radhakrishnan G,
Coimbatore.
Supply of sewage
mixed water
Following a report in The Hindu on May 26 on sewage and drinking water mixing in Ward 30, we narrate our own experience at Govindaswamy Naidu Layout, Trichy Road, coming under Ward 66. To the added misery of irregular and insufficient water supply for the past 25 years, on May 19, we received blackish brown coloured water and within a day a foul smell started emanating from this water.
Even after some of us cleaning our overhead tanks suspecting accumulation of mud and the like, the bad odour continued. While cleaning pipes, we experienced choking of pipes by undesirable organic content and black sediments usually found in sewers. There is a clear suspicion of sewage mixed water having been pumped to our colony.
Even on May 26, the 8th day from the last supply, clean water is yet to flow. We seek immediate responsible action from the Mayor, Municipal Commissioner and their retinue to stop the recurrence of this mix-up of sewage with clean water as it is a matter of health and hygiene of people and a serious failure of duty of the Corporation and its staff.
JVV Murthy,
Coimbatore.
End the bad practice
There is the good old saying that patience is a virtue. But, how many of us care to put it into practice? At almost all important road junctions within the city, automatic signals and timers have been installed. It is common knowledge that they are meant for ensuring smooth and safe movement of the endless stream of vehicles we come across on almost every road these days. Yet, by the time the timer descends to the level of 6 or 5 many drivers and riders lose their patience and move forward. What we then find is complete chaos. Accidents occur and many get badly injured or die. Yet, we do not care to learn a lesson and the bad practice continues. To put an end to this, warning boards can be displayed at road junctions and, if the violations still continue, hefty fine should be imposed, all in the best interests of the vehicle users.
K.D. Viswanaathan,
Coimbatore.
Tribute to
J.J. Goodwin
Udhagamandalam occupied an important place in the life of Swami Vivekananda, as his British born stenographer foremost disciple, J.J. Goodwin was buried in the cemetery at St. Thomas Church there. He died at the age of 27 on June 2, 1898, due to enteric fever.
Swami Vivekananda has said that but for Goodwin, none of his words would have seen the light of day! Goodwin brought the words of his master to the future generations and preserved it for posterity. Such a soul deserves veneration by all, since he was an Englishman whose mortal remains were buried in Ooty. The Ramakrishna Ashram, Ooty, The Nilgiris Documentation Centre, Kotagiri, and admirers of Swamiji can organise services at his cemetery or light a candle every Easter Sunday at least, as our humble tribute to him for his great services rendered to Swamiji.
K. Bala Sundaram,
Dharmapuri.
Name of the district
When I registered my son's name in the website of Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission for a one-time registration all the columns designed by TNPSC were correct.
While all the names of districts appeared correct, the name of ‘The Nilgiris’ appeared as ‘Udhagamandalam’. Udhagamandalam is the capital of the district. The TNPSC authorities may please correct the name of the district as ‘The Nilgiris’ at once.
G.N. Devaraj,
Bhavanisagar.
(Readers can send mail to
cbereaders@thehindu.co.in
with address and
phone number)
