Ask Sheldon, and he’ll tell you how amazing train journeys are. The constant metallic clunk mixed with the sweet sound of the whistle makes you appreciate the scenic fields, towns and valleys you pass through. Mixing the old world’s charm with modern technology, trains make for the best way to travel!
Sadly, the same can not be said about a majority of trains in India. With overcrowded coaches, filthy washrooms and almost no attention to customer satisfaction, travelling in most Indian trains is no less than a nightmare.
While most of us usually take it as a regular affair and move on, one man made sure that the railways pay for their inefficient service.
Dev Kant, the deputy legal advisor in the ministry of law and justice has won a compensation of ₹30,000 after a seven-year-long legal battle with the Indian Railways. The reason, his family couldn’t use the train washroom for 90 minutes!
In 2009, Mr Kant was travelling from Amritsar to Delhi with his wife and two children. At Ludhiana station, a huge crowd entered into the reserved compartments, took all the vacant seats and blocked the way to the washrooms.
As the railways was unable to stop people from forcibly entering the compartment, the complainant said that he and his family suffered mental and physical stress. Kant’s son, Harisharan Bagga, explained the ordeal.
“The passage was jam packed and the crowd was uncooperative. Also, apart from my father my sister and my mother were also traveling with us and it was an uncomfortable situation for them as well.”
Harisharan said that they even complained the TTE about it but it fell on deaf ears.
“We brought it to the notice of the TTE and asked him to call the railway police but he did not bother and went away after expressing his inability to handle the situation.”
While Railways said that they took timely action by vacating the coach at Ambala station and the case is a way to extort money, the state consumer forum held them responsible for the discomfort caused to the passengers.
Let’s hope this make the Railways more responsible towards the comfort and satisfaction of their paying customers.
News Source: India Today