Summary:
They claimed to have been demanding facilities at the station, including allowing commuters access to rakes departing from the carshed, prompt operation of emergency medical room and removal of hawkers from the station premises.The commuters assembled at the railway station premises late on Monday after their working hours and voluntarily swept the station premises after informing the railway authorities about the same. “Lakhs of commuters from Kalwa find it difficult to board trains during morning peak hours and many of them are seen dangerously climbing trains leaving the carshed. THANE: Distraught commuters from Kalwa staged a unique Gandhian protest on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti by sweeping the railway station premises as a mark of protest to draw attention of the Central Railway towards their long-pending demands.The commuters, united under the banner of the Kalwa Parsik Pravashi Sanghatana, decided to stage the protest instead of resorting to a rail roko or other violent means of agitation. We appealed to our members and fellow commuters online and within short notice several commuters and activists arrived at the platform late on Monday and helped sweep the station premises,” said Siddhesh Desai, an activist spearheading the protest.The activists said their primary demand is to either construct a platform outside the adjoining carshed or ensure trains leaving for Thane during morning peak hours be started from Kalwa. We have been requesting the administration to make termination facility outside the carshed that will help reduce the load on Thane station as well as road traffic,” said another regular commuter from Kalwa.A senior railway official from Mumbai said it was not feasible to make termination facility for suburban trains at Kalwa adding that other issues, inlcuding hawkers menace and operations of EMR would be looked into..