For brisk business, vendors snap water supply: Passengers

LUDHIANA: Water, the basic necessity of life, has become a cause of concern at the city railway station. Passengers and others allege that in this sultry weather, the vendors in order to sell bottled water disconnect the water supply from taps.
Acting on these complaints, the divisional railway authorities have announced a number over which people can send their grievances.But interestingly, the station officials here do not want the complaint number to be public and believe in handling the complaints on their own.
Senior divisional commercial manager of Ferozepur Division Dharmendra Singh, said, “In this hot weather, every tap should be functional and there should not be any excuse for the contrary. But from the past few days, we have been receiving complaints that vendors disconnect the supply to sell mineral water.”
Taking action, he added, “If any commuter anywhere in the division faces a problem, he can send us an SMS on 9717630982 and we will ask for an explanation from the station superintendent and other officials concerned.”
But asking aggrieved passengers not to ring up the number, he said, “Travellers can only send an SMS because we do not want to indulge in long complaints. It should be precise and to the point so that we could immediately take action.”
Expressing happiness at the decision, residents hope that the situation would improve in the days to come. Speaking about it, Kanchan Khurana, a commuter, said, “A thirsty person seeks out water at the earliest. For people like me who do not relish mineral water, the absence of supply water is the worst possible thing that can happen in this sultry weather to him.”
Another citizen said the remedial measure is good but the number should be available everywhere. If any commuter faces any problem anywhere, he should have an idea whom and where to meet.
Meanwhile, station superintendent RK Sharma said, “Yes, we are aware of the SMS number being given by Dharmendra Singh. But we have not published it on the premises as we would like to solve the complaints concerning our station ourselves. We do not want these to reach to our higher ups.”