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Octobet 24: After the tragic collapse of the Railway Mail Service RMS office at the Dadar railway station on October 21, which killed 11 ...

Octobet 24: After the tragic collapse of the Railway Mail Service RMS office at the Dadar railway station on October 21, which killed 11 people, the main station building, housing the offices of the Central Railway, now seems to stand in wait, fear station officials.

At least 30 memos have been sent to the Inspector of Works IOW in the past six months to carry out repair work in the building which is in a dilapidated state.

Yet, IOW engineers and officials claim that regular maintenance of the building is being carried out, despite the fact that the department is facing a severe financial crunch, which hampers the quality of repair work sometimes.

Nearly 500 CR employees work in the 141-year-old building, out of which 150 are in the operating departments like ticketing, parcel depot, carriage and wagon workshop, among others. These 150 people work in precarious conditions. In the past, the staff have had close shave with death when either a wall collapsed or a ceiling came down. Only two months back at the ticket window number ten, a portion of the roof came down, almost killing a clerk. 8220;The booking clerk was is a state of paranoia for two days after the incident,quot; said his colleague.

A month before this, a similar incident occurred with a parcel porter who was fast asleep near the parcel office, when a nearby wall collapsed and fell inches from him.

The officials claim that the IOW was warned about the state of the RMS office several times, before it collapsed. The mezzanine floor, which was illegally constructed in 1991, has 100 people resting after work, when it is meant for only 50. Then there are also instances of leaking roofs during monsoons and damp walls that eventually become weak.

When contacted, IOW officials said that regular inspections have been carried out to ensure that the building is strong and would not collapse. One of the officers said that the department was extremely short-staffed besides facing a cash-crunch. 8220;For a work of Rs 50,000, we are paid only Rs 30,000 by the CR authorities. This affects the quality of work and thus mishaps occur,8221; he said.

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On the financial status, Rakesh Saxena, chief spokesperson of CR said that the railways pays for the repair work, and only objects to requisitions of quot;frills and fanciesquot; by the department. Meanwhile, the commissioner of railway safety, D Mani, today began an enquiry into the RMS collapse. Two of the injured are still in a critical condition at the Lokmanya Tilak and King Edward Memorial hospitals, say doctors. The sixty-nine injured are reported to be in a stable condition.