Jamshedpur, Sept 20: The parking lot at Tatanagar rail station is far from safe. A recent incident endorses this observation.
A motorcycle went missing from the parking lot on the evening of September 15. The two-wheeler owner had parked his vehicle at the paid parking area at 9:15 am. But when he came to the parking area to collect his bike at about 7 pm, he found his vehicle missing. He immediately informed the Tatanagar GRP about the missing motor cycle.
After hectic search, the bike was found parked in the parking lot at midday on September 17.
The question that comes to mind first is how did the two-wheeler get out of the parking area gate as the owner had the parking ticket with him? Next, a doubt naturally arises of a nexus between the personnel manning the parking lot and the gang of vehicle lifters. Though a doubt, this matter needs to be probed deeply.
It may be mentioned here that the parking area at Tatanagar rail station is under the control of the railway authorities. The personnel manning the area are outsourced.
The intriguing factor is, one of the staff members of the outsourced team urged the owner of the vehicle not to lodge a complaint with the police and instead, he offered to pay the price of the bike at the current value. The owner, however refused the offer and filed a complaint with the GRP.
The recovery of the motor cycle in itself is akin to a Houdini act. It was found after almost two days parked in the lot.
Not only does it raise the question of how was the vehicle taken out without a parking ticket and how did it reemerge from the blue at the parking lot? Are the parking attendants hand in glove with vehicle lifters?
Why did one of the parking attendants offer to pay money for the bike in lieu of not filing a complaint with the police? Is it not reason enough for railway authorities concerned to depute employees to man the vehicle parking lot?
Another important point of note is that the CCTV camera installed at the parking lot is revolving and thus not fool proof enough to keep an eye on people parking and taking out their vehicles.
This anomaly too needs immediate rectification or else the very purpose of such gadgets would be brought to naught.
