INDIA - Faulty “phataks” drive citizens crazy Jangveer Singh Tribune News Service

Patiala, June 27 Malfunctioning of most of the “phataks” (gates) of the city since yesterday are driving its citizens crazy as they have to wait for long periods for the fault to be set right or go in for long circumventions to reach their destinations.

The railway crossings of the city have to be navigated to reach nearly all destinations. As many as four railway crossings are situated at busy intersections where even closure for a few minutes causes traffic crossing.

Since yesterday three of the important railway crossings near Capital Cinema, in the Baradari and on the Rajbaha road have been closed for long spells due to some fault in the mechanism which opens and closes these gates. According to sources, the trouble has been caused by overwear of the wires of the gear box used to operate the gates. Due to this problem the gate near the railway crossings was closed for a long period forcing the people to cross the railway line by using the overbridge near the bus stand.

It is very cumbersome to travel further for small journeys due to the faults in the railway mechanism, said Anita, a student. She said yesterday she had to wait for a long time in front of the railway crossing in front of Capital Cinema. When the gate did not open even after the train had passed did she realise that there was some problem with the gate and took a different route to reach her house.

Sources said the intermittent closure of the railway crossings due to faults in their operating mechanism was also causing havoc with the transport system in the city. They said, according to current regulations, heavy traffic could not travel on Mall Road during the day due to which most of the traffic took the Rajbaha road. They said intermittent closure of the Rajbaha road railway crossing due to faults in its mechanism caused a traffic jam in the area yesterday.

Railway sources said the reason for the current problem was the lack of proper maintenance. They said there were as many as 12 railway crossings on the Patiala-Nabha railway link and six railway stations in the way. Even though there were so many crossings, the operating systems were not maintained regularly which led to problems. Giving an example, the sources said while earlier maintenance checks used to be conducted at least once a week, now checks were sometimes not conducted even once in a fortnight.

Railway technicians said when they put this issue before the authorities they were admonished and warned that they would be transferred if they asked for more helpers to do maintenance work due to lack of staff. The Railway Station authorities said a technician would have to be called from Nabha as the local technician was not available.

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-- Anonymous, June 28, 2001