Bad lighting in Chromepet station

CHENNAI: Being one of the important railway stations in the southern suburbs of Chennai, the rail commuters are put to suffer without proper lighting facilities at the Chromepet railway station.

Chromepet is turning out to be one of the important spots in the suburbs as many commercial shopping complexes, but the access road to the railway station is poorly lit, rued local residents. The railway station in Chromepet is one of the oldest and it records an average footfall of about 40,000 in a day.

The residents of Hastinapuram, Nemilicherry, Nagapa Nagar, Nagalkeni, MC Nagar, State Bank Colony, and Radha Nagar would use the railway station for their day-to-day travel.

Apart from that many students would travel to Chromepet since Madras Institute of Technology (MIT), a private women’s college and schools are also located in Chromepet, said local residents.

However, the platforms in Chromepet railway station do not have proper lighting facilities. The first platform would remain dark completely and at times the staff would even forget the switch on the lights.

V Santhanam, an activist from Chromepet said The women commuters are afraid to use the platform during night time as anti-social elements and tipplers are usually found on the platform.

“Even the staircase has only a single light and at night it would be a nightmare to use them. Since there are no CCTV cameras in the railway station the incidence of theft or chain snatching may go unchecked,” fumed D Vijayakumar, a resident of Tambaram, who frequently uses Chrompet railway station.

The commuters said that in Chromepet the commuters are mostly college students and women so the railways should install proper lighting and CCTV so that crimes can be controlled in the station premises.

When contacted a Southern Railway official he said that will immediately check with the electrical department and take steps to repair the faulty lights.