Counters run short of booking clerks
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For bank cashier Amalraj (30) of Tambaram waiting in serpentine queues is as much a routine as dispensing cash to his customers daily.
For, he spends not less than half an hour at the ticket counter in Tambaram to buy his ticket to reach LIC by a suburban EMU.
Amalraj was among the innumerable passengers who tiresomely waited at ticket counters to buy unreserved tickets for southbound express trains or EMUs at Tambaram railway station on Thursday as only four of the eight ticket counters functioned there.
In Perungulathur, only one counter worked. The scenario is no different in other stations, particularly in important stations like Mambalam, Beach, Park stations and even Egmore junction, where most counters remain closed for want of booking clerks.
The acute demand for booking clerks is no new scenario as the condition has been prevailing for over a year now.
Way back in 2011, unions gave a representation to the top brass in the division seeking immediate filling of booking clerk vacancies.
A senior trade union leader pointed out that as many as 150 booking clerk posts remain vacant in Chennai division alone.
The railway authorities conceded and placed a request to fill the 136 booking clerk posts in Chennai, which, fortunately, was sanctioned by the board even.
However, a year later, the posts remain vacant still, apparently, keeping the passengers waiting.
Blaming the department for not showing any inclination to fill the vacancies, another trade union leader said the demand was more felt during summer and Perambur, Beach, Mambalam, Tambaram, Moor Market complex and Park stations were identified to have more demand for booking clerks.
Trade union leaders said the situation would ease once the vacancies were filled.
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