Saturday, Feb 19, 2011
Gulf News
Shatter-proof glass facades attract criticism that exteriors give ‘first class’ impression while interiors remain ‘third class’
Mumbai The Churchgate rail terminus on the Western Railway (WR) network is getting a new look with three sides of the station being covered with glass panels to give it a modern, corporate look.
By end of March, the work of fitting the white and blue (the colour code of WR in naming its stations) glass panels in frames will be completed, said C.N.K. David, WR public relations officer. “The panels are being fitted at a distance from the building to refract heat and allow ventilation,” he said.
The shatter-proof glass, a guard against mob violence, will also reflect the WR headquarters across the road where the dome of the heritage building is also undergoing maintenance work. Churchgate station may appear to be a plain Jane cousin of Central Railway’s beautiful Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) building some two km away, but it is an all-important terminus for millions of commuters living in the western suburbs.
The beautification effort has, however, not gone down well with employees working in the building who think the exterior may be “first class” but the interior continues to be “third class”. The Western Railway Mazdoor Sangh (WRMS) or labour union has submitted a memorandum to the general manager citing all the problems inside the building that will have to be first dealt with immediately.
Ajay Singh, divisional secretary, WRMS, says, “There is no cross-ventilation as the glass panels cover the windows. When we asked them not to cover the windows but only the walls with glass, they refused saying the design would look bad.”
The memorandum states that dirty and leaking toilets will have to be cleaned regularly, an emergency plan to fight fire or other disasters has to be in place and clean water provided. With water supply being cut off at 4 pm, water supplied by tankers is contaminated.
Except for the cabins of senior officers, the building that houses 2,000 employees is not air-conditioned. Conditions are shabby, to say the least, according to employees, as they complain of leakages that have led to fungus-defaced walls, uncleared garbage, old files and furniture dumped in passageways.
modernisation
There is no cross-ventilation as the glass panels cover the windows. When we asked them not to cover the windows but only the walls with glass, they refused saying the design would look bad.”
Ajay Singh
Divisional Secretary of the Western Railway Mazdoor Sangh
By Pamela Raghunath?Correspondent
Gulf News 2011. All rights reserved.
