One of the rare instances where the Mahananda milk stall at Parel sees some customers. (Inset) Shriram Patankar, the milk booth owner, says only four locals halt at the platform during the day
The idea behind allotting milk booths to the physically challenged at railway stations is to give them a source of livelihood. However at a booth located on platform nos 3 and 4 at Parel, the very purpose is defeated. The booth barely gets any customers in a day as only four local trains halt there, including two workmen's specials. Shriram Patankar, head of the Brihan Maharashtra Apang Vikas Sanghtana said, "Of the four locals, two of them halt before 7 am. Other commuters will certainly not take the staircase and change platforms just to drink flavoured milk. I don't understand how the IRCTC and Mahananda chose this spot for business," he complained. Mahananda and IRCTC officials had surveyed the spots for these stalls and then taken permission from Central and Western Railway. Patankar has been requesting Mahananda and IRCTC officials to change the location of the milk booth since April, but there is little response. Mahananda chairman Vinayakrao Patil said, "We are following up the issue with IRCTC and have held several meetings so far." Meanwhile, IRCTC deputy general manager R Shirvastava has written to CR for permission to change the booth's location. Shriniwas Mudgerikar, chief public relations officer of CR, said, "The spots were earlier surveyed and fixed by the concerned agencies. Their request for change of location is under consideration and a decision is expected soon." As per the Railway Board's policy, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) had allotted sites to Maharashtra Rajya Dudh Mahasangh Maryadit, popularly known as Mahananda, to install and operate milk booths at railway stations. Though they had decided to give all stalls to the disabled, only 10 stalls were offered to them finally. Trains halting at Parel's Platform 3 and 4 * Railway workmen's special 6:22 am * CST-Karjat 6:40 am * Railway workmen's special 4:05 pm * Ambernath-CST 5:08 pm Information transmitted by this e-mail is proprietary to MphasiS, its associated companies and/ or its customers and is intended for use only by the individual or entity to which it is addressed, and may contain information that is privileged, confidential or exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient or it appears that this mail has been forwarded to you without proper authority, you are notified that any use or dissemination of this information in any manner is strictly prohibited. In such cases, please notify us immediately at [email protected] and delete this mail from your records. To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
