abandoned vehicles

Mumbai Central station

Western Railway

Photos by Deepak Turbhekar

crime-free zone

The area near the main entrance had become a den of anti-social elements; (right) the cleared area on Wednesday

The area near the main entrance had been clogged for nearly a decade.Around 40that greeted commuters near the entrance ofhave finally been cleared. The area had been used as a dumping ground of sorts for khataaras for close to 10 years.officials finally tracked down the owners of the vehicles, which were lying near the main entrance, and asked them to remove the vehicles.Railway authorities are now planning to extend the drive to other stations. “The railway road leading to the parcel office of the station was choked with more than 40 vehicles illegally parked there. It had become a den of antisocial elements for around 10 years. Efforts to clear the area in the past were thwarted by unruly elements and even railway officers couldn’t inspect the area. The issue was not only of misuse of a precious railway asset at a prime location, but also a potential security threat to passengers at the station” said an officer of western railway.SR Gandhi, senior divisional security commissioner of WR, Mumbai Central division, added that steps are being taken to remove all unauthorised taxis in front of the station and to start a prepaid taxi system.The drive to remove khataaras was part of plan to make Mumbai Central station a. “Apart from clearing the abandoned vehicles, security personnel were deployed at eight entry and exit points of the station to prevent the entry of unauthorised persons,” said Ravinder Bhakar , chief public relations officer of WR. “The aim is to create a dramatically changed and completely safe security environment for passengers at Mumbai Central station,” he added.Mumbai Central is one the busiest stations of WR, from where 22 trains, including Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express ply. Around 950 local trains pass though the station every day. The average daily footfall at the station is around 2.7 lakh.Since May 2018, Mumbai Mirror has run a sustained campaign on the menace of abandoned vehicles eating up valuable space on the roads, apart from posing health and security risks.