A long journey to book train tickets

HYDERABAD: Though the South Central Railway has accepted the proposal for installing Public Reservation Service Centres PRSC) in Mehdipatnam in Dec. 2003, the centres have not yet come up.
The result: people have to go as far as Ameerpet or Nampally to book their tickets.
As many as 2 lakh people live in 200 different localities in and around Mehdipatnam, but they have no railway ticket booking counters and have to travel more than 12 to 15 kilometres from Gachibowli, Himayathsagar, Osmansagar, Ibrahimbagh, Nanakramguda and adjoining areas to Nampally or Ameerpet to book their train tickets.
The railway department is not permitted to hire private property and the building premises should belong to the state government, the railway officials say.
According to Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee member Humera Aziz, government land in three places including Mehdipatnam, Gachibowli and Tolichowki have been identified.
Later they were inspected by railway officials, yet there has been no initiative from their side towards installing PRSCs, Humera said.
“It takes more than an hour to reach Nampally reservation counter and have to wait for an hour in the queue. I have to take leave just for booking a ticket,� Mohan Rao a resident of Gachibowli said.
“Due to the traffic on the way, by the time I reach the booking counter it gets closed,� Aditya teacher residing in Ibrahimbagh said.