About time the chaos outside stations ends

Sanjay Pandey, commissioner of police, Mumbai. Pic/Ashish Raje

Autos, toe the line, is the Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey's diktat, and one could not be more relieved.

The police chief plans to make railway stations congestion free by removing vendors and ensuring that autos are in a line at stations ready to ply, with commuters spilling out from the city's lifeline.

The police chief has responded to the chaos just outside railway stations, that is leading to arguments and at times escalating to strong altercations with commuters, vendors and autos, all in the mix.

It is time we decongest the outside of railway stations and bring more discipline to approaches towards the station and exits.

We have seen pavements taken over by hawkers, many peddling clothes, food stuff, juice, stationery, simply any last-minute stuff that the commuter in a hurry and flurry wants or needs.

This means people are walking on the roads, doing a dodging act between other people, dangerously close BEST buses that are running on feeder routes to the station, and have to be nimble to dodge the rickshaws that crowd the roads outside the station.

It is a mix that invites trouble as tempers are short and vehicles and pedestrians making a dash for it.

It is the classic survival of the fittest, in the jungle that is outside our stations.

Some stations are marginally better organised than the others, but overall, it is a chaotic scene, and this bubbling cauldron is ready to spill over and singe all those involved.

Road rage or we can dub it railway rage spills over as autos zig zag madly refusing to fly or taking passengers in no particular order.

Lining up will bring much needed order and lessen stress levels. Let us have a well-planned de-congestion, most importantly one that stays that way once it is done.