Uneven parkings at Bhopal railway station damaging vehicles

BHOPAL: The shifting of halts of major trains from Bhopal railway station to Habibganj station in wake of development work at the main station and the sudden rush of passengers has thrown facilities and services out of gear at Habibganj station. But even the limited facilities at Bhopal station has been crippled with parking being the first casualty.
Parking lots at both the stations have a history of vehicles being abandoned, squeezing out parking space for passengers.
Parking at railway stations of Bhopal continue to be overstuffed with long standing vehicles leading to the incidents and complaints of theft of its spare parts. About three months ago, parking lot contractor at Bhopal railway station, Shadab Khan, handed over 29 such two-wheelers to government railway police (GRP). These vehicles were left at the parking space along platform 1 for more than two months.
“Due to unlevelled parking area provided by railways we are already short of space and are unable to accommodate vehicles as per its capacity. Moreover, haphazardly parked vehicles add to problems for other passengers and often vehicles parked earlier are damaged and we are blamed. People, often VIPs, argue with us and refuse to park their vehicles outside if space is short,” said Shadab Khan, contractor of platform 1 parking at Bhopal railway station.
“It is railways, who are not taking any step to level the parking area and when the vehicles are damaged, passengers, blame us and misbehave with us. We can’t do anything except to write to railways,” added Khan.
A passenger, Malik Ram, from Vidisha, who has been parking here since past 15 years said, “I have never ever witnessed the misbehaviour by parking lot staff and park my vehicle here regularly. Now, the unlevelled parking and dust makes our own vehicle looks unidentifiable, in just 12-15 hours.”
“Everything is being renovated on railway station except for parking lots,” said another passenger Hakim Chand, who parks his vehicle at Bhopal railway station and leaves for work since past one year.
Passengers also blamed the parking has just been made on the chunk of land without any security for vehicles. Wall around the area has been demolished down to make the entrance of two-wheeler parking at Bhopal railway station. There is also the problem of overcharging at times, they said. Whereas four-wheeler parking is a bigger nightmare for passengers, who have to park their vehicles either towards platform 6 or have to drop their relatives and leave immediately.
Jitendra Chauhan, who is looking after parking lot at platform 6 side told TOI, “There is space for about 50 four-wheelers in the parking area we have. Moreover, we were also given the responsibility of two-wheeler parking. But after depositing a security of about Rs 3.5 lakh, three months ago, railway is now passing the buck from one official to another and not handing over the charge of parking. As a result, parking at platform 1 is over loaded.”
Parking facility at Bhopal station was affected as a portion of the area was used for Simhastha visitors. Now, Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) is planning shade outside platform 6.
CHOKED PICK & DROP LANE
At both the stations, Bhopal rail division has extensively established drop and go lane, but there is no management or monitoring of vehicles coming in and being parked there, leading to the traffic chaos. As now the foot fall at Habibganj railway station have increased due to shifting of train halts, and parking done at drop and go lane is making it difficult for passengers to reach the station entrance during peak hours.
BMC, RAILWAYS LOCK HORNS
During Simhastha, Bhopal municipal corporation has occupied parking space on the side of platform 6 of Bhopal railway station, in April and May, but since then BMC has been claiming that according to government records the land belongs to them and the matter is with collector and still under dispute, leading to parking woes at platform 1.
WHERE ARE PARKINGS
Bhopal Railway station
Platform 1
Capacity: 4,500 vehicles
Can accommodate only 4,000, as the remaining space is consumed by old vehicles left ion the lot
Platform 6
Four-wheeler parking capacity: about 40
Can accommodate only 30 vehicles, as police officials park their two wheelers too.
New two-wheeler parking yet to come up.
Habibganjrailway station:
Two-wheeler parking in front of GRP police station: Capacity: 3,500 (completely full, sometimes even more due to old parked vehicles.)
Four-wheeler parking including both entrances can accommodate about 100-150 vehicles.