STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Despite figuring among the seven important railway stations of India Jammu Railway Station continues to paint a dirty picture in front of the tourist/pilgrim traffic arriving here.
Few months ago Jammu Railway Station was shortlisted by the Indian Railways for building eco-friendly ‘Namma toilets’. The same units were also installed at Katra Railway Station for the benefit of pilgrims.
But even after these eco-friendly toilets were raised in Jammu the same are yet to be thrown open for use.
Concertina wires remain spread in and around the toilet complex making it difficult for the tourists to use the same. Even the doors of toilets remain locked and other facilities out of bounds for end users despite heavy rush of pilgrims. In the absence of formal inauguration, the toilet facility is gathering dust here at the Railway Station premises much to the chagrin of pilgrims who have to rely on existing toilet facility. Namma toilets are basically maintenance-free stainless steel toilets.
CII Foundation had signed an MoU with IRCTC for construction of 15 prefabricated Namma toilet blocks, in and around seven railway stations. These are Katra, Jammu, Mumbai, Vijaywada, Varanasi, Amritsar and Lucknow.
At several of these above mentioned centres these toilets have been put to use and adding to the comfort levels of visitors but in Jammu railway station these toilets have been allowed to rotten even after spending lakhs of rupees. Official sources claimed each unit entails an expenditure of Rs 17 lakhs per block.
