Tag: pmo

Posted in Economic

Sheer harassment awaits you on Arrival at Chennai Airport.

Posted on by veeskitchen

ATTENTION PRIME MINSTER SHRI NARENDRA MODI JI PMO

When I flew in the first week of September, things were as usual at Chennai International. I got picked up comfortably at the terminal arrival T2. When I returned to Chennai Domestic after a local trip by the last week, already dead tired, I had no awareness what a nightmare awaited me.

I was asked to take a buggy to the multistory parking lot a km away. Sounded simple. Now this is the new pickup point for Ola, Uber, pre-paid airport taxis or even private cars. Those who want to transfer to Chennai Metro Rail can always do so from within the airport without having to step out – whether domestic or international. Both have direct connectivity to Metro.

But the problem is, you reach your destination after a tiring travel. There is not a regulated queue for the buggy. I was a lone traveler. I have health issues, I am middle aged, and I can never haul weights. Maximum I can pull up my bags from the conveyor belt and shift them to the low level trolleys. Mostly at this, I am helped at by fellow passengers. The buggy line is long, if at all there is one. People rush to get into the buggy not wanting to wait their turns. Absolute chaos with no discipline or order. Those with light cases manage easily to board the buggy flinging their bags to the holdall in the back. I had a great difficulty hauling my bags on to the back of the buggy that cannot hold big suitcases. Mine had to be put on top jutting out and shaking all the way. Moreover mixed luggages of passengers are piled up precariously one on top of another. I saw ladies struggle to haul their bags to the buggy and get in at the same time. By the time some women successfully placed their trolley bags over the buggy, their seat in the buggy was taken. With the buggy full and leaving without them but with their bags, the women were perplexed. After over 20 minutes of trying to get into one, I summoned someone probably in-charge there to help me. Finally a kind man hauled my luggages to the back of the buggy and I could take a seat in the buggy at the same time. But not after a terrible argument with the driver of the buggy. That by itself was a feat. It took me over 30 minutes just to get from outside the terminal to the parking lot. Here you have multistorey parking and the cars are parked at various levels. You have to take an elevator to reach whatever floor, in case of prepaid taxis. God knows where to wait for Uber. I was told the waiting place was the same as the uber/ola drivers only could drive through. Such a confusion and MESS. Totally harassed.

I thought the international terminal would be different. My husband who traveled last month went through the same nightmare on landing at T2. Early morning, no buggy was available. Trolleys cannot be wheeled beyond a point. He called his cabbie who thankfully walked upto the terminal from the parking. Both of them wheeled the suitcases for over a good half to one km to the parking lot at morning 3 am. It totally drained his energy. Is this what to expect on landing in our hometown after a tired journey. In my case, even if the buggy may be available, I just can’t haul the bags to that height of the buggy holdall. My international flight bags weigh over 18 to 20 kg each. What am I going to do. What brainless people have put such a harrowing system into place? Its not only impractical, it is sheer harassment, nightmare. This is now going on for over 2 months and I wonder whoever has registered an official complaint.

If for security reasons the government wants to keep the taxies and cars at bay at the parking lot, then something like a shuttle bus must be arranged where there must be conductors to handle luggages. I have seen such a system in place in the US. One can board the shuttle to reach parking lots as far as few kilometers without hassles.

Hopefully by the time I return the old way of exiting airport is back. I give up, I just can’t. Wonder how the wheelchair passengers cope up. Its not a straight level ride with their carts to the parking at all. A lot of work needs to be done on warfooting basis. Airport authority need not have to turn our airport into 5 star hotel. At least the basics they must take care of. What is the use of building a swanky new airport and putting passengers through sheer harassment on arrival. Basic amenities must be covered first. You see the airports in the US. They keep the artefacts there in museums not in airports. Airport can be plain but functional and user-friendly. Arrival in Chennai is now a big headache be it international or domestic.

Posted in Lateral Thinking

Vande Bharat: At What Cost.

Posted on by veeskitchen

Imagine climbing up a flight of stairs – some 20 steep steps – from platform 9, walking over the footbridge and then descending down another 20 with your travel bags wheeled or unwheeled, shopping bags, handbag, etc., etc. by morning 4 am when not a single porter is around. That is how I recently got to Egmore station exit after alighting from my train. Egmore, Chennai is the second main railway station in the city after only to Chennai Central. All the trains to the state start from Egmore. Other state trains start running from Central. Egmore is also where Chennai Metro converges at underground level with Egmore railways station. So essentially we have two railway systems in the city converging at Egmore where passengers interchange trains/stations depending on their destinations. That makes Egmore railway station a hotspot.

There is a single elevator and a single elevator at service on one far end in Egmore (at the side entrance) but even they work only upto reaching the level of footbridge. From the footbridge to the train platform, you have to haul your luggage, no other go. And most importantly you can avail of either facility only when you go to Egmore to board a train for your onward journey. Both are not available when you are on return to Chennai and are unlucky enough to disembark at far-off platforms wherefrom you cannot walk out without climbing up and down flights of stairs. The plight of the elderly who have already spent tiring hours traveling by train is pathetic. No question of the station being disabled-friendly. So when you don’t take care of the basics, what is the need to go for Vande Bharat first of all. I have boarded the same Vande Bharat o Madurai CONVENIENTLY FROM PLATFORM 1 or 2 that don’t need you to sweat it out. Chennai is the state capital and if one of the two main railways stations in the city must be lacking fundamental amenities for passengers, then why do we need Vande Bharat at all.

My only solace was that, I carried 20 kg suitcase of mine, my shopping bags and my handbag all together up 20 steep steps and down again to catch a cab back home. I heaved for breath but I made it in single piece which means my heart must be ok! But this is a poor excuse to pardon the railways department for failing commuters grandly in basic and important matters which make them unreliable. This is not just gross negligence, this is the habitual apathy of our government that’s all. Most of us in my age band have life conditions such as blood pressure and diabetes. I am not used to hauling weights as well. I was worried really how my heart would take it. Up the stairs meant that I had to physically lift my luggage and could not drag it. Railways department puts those like me to unnecessary hardship. If this is the scenario in Chennai, think about the state of affairs in tier 2, tier 3 cities and towns.

This is why I am against modernization of Indian railways. Luxury can wait. First cater to the basics. Build more paid lavatories in the junctions which is more important. Every single railway station in India must have an escalator and an elevator both ways up and down connecting the two ends of the footbridge. The upper middle class of India can fly out easily. The Indian railways is for the middle classes and lower middle classes. This is why Indian railways must NEVER be privatized. There is more need for added essential/vital amenities at our railways stations and junctions than for the superfast and sleek Vande Bharat series of trains. And to give the best accessible platform to Vande Bharat trains is another sad reality. It is also alleged that to maintain time for Vande Bharat express trains, other trains meant for the general janata are put on hold at signals. Having traveled by Vande Bharat to Madurai, I appreciate the service. But overt focus on sophistication of Indian railways may be diverting funds meant for upgrade of the services and amenities meant for the welfare and comfort of the masses.

Indian government must focus on improving the quality of life for the man in the street not for our creamy classes at the expense of middle classes. So are the middle classes only your vote bank who don’t deserve to be treated better? Who is the tax evader? The business communities fudge figures not the salaried middle classes who have nothing to hide. Its the elite of India who run a parallel black money market, not the hardworking and honest and transparent tax paying middle classes. Hoping to see what is necessary done at our Egmore station in near future. I am tagging PMO, PM, INDIAN RAILWAYS.

Posted in Political

Dear PM Modi, Please dispatch Corona Vaccines to Nepal

Posted on by veeskitchen

Nepal, once the only constitutionally Hindu country in the world now sadly neutralized into secular, is seeing catastrophe with covid surge. India, the behemoth, can survive any onslaught, but Nepal cannot. None can deny the cultural connect we Hindus have with the Himalayan kingdom. Ever since Nepal started batting for China, India-Nepal ties are strained. India should be the good samaritan, the big brother it is to the subcontinent, and come forward to help Nepal in this distress. India has the capacity and capability to accommodate Nepal in the scheme of things. Is our PM Modi listening. An earnest plea dear prime minister, let not our Nepali brothers and sisters suffer. Please fly a contingent right this moment to the landlocked nation that is helpless. Nepal direly is in need of corona vaccines. I am well aware, India needs to take care of 1.3 billion. Still, let us not give up on each other. Vaccinating a few more crores of Nepalis won’t hurt India.

Prime MInister Shri Narendra Modi ji. My earnest appeal to you. Please help our brethren in Nepal on warfooting basis putting aside our political and policy differences. Please send a batch of our India made corona vaccines (Covaxin if not Covishield) at your earliest to Nepal, on humanitarian grounds. Please lend Nepal a helping lifesaving hand in this crisis. I am thanking you in advance on behalf of my Nepali friends.

Nepal is family. Whatever the differences, when India can do this for Bangladesh, why not for Nepal.