Rlys hire ‘contract killer’ to end rat menace

(With pix) Lucknow, Aug 21 (PTI) With no Pied Piper to help it out,the Railways has little choice left but to hire "contractkillers" to eliminate hundreds of giant rodents that have dugtunnels under the platforms of the British-era Charbaghrailway station here. "A private company has been given the contract for Rs4.76 lakh to kill the rats, which have caused extensive damageto railway property, government files and passenger goods,"said Senior Divisional Commercial Manager (Northern Railway -Lucknow) A K Sinha. The contract is for one year and work is likely to beginby this month-end, Sinha told PTI here. The rat-killing team will cover the circulating area,platforms, buildings and shunting yards and the cost will cometo nearly Rs 40,000 a month. The company will prepare edible items to kill rats andthe ingredients of these will be according to World HealthOrganisation (WHO) norms. A similar exercise was undertaken in 2013 but the resultswere not up to expectation in the absence of follow-up action. The rat menace on platforms and in office buildings hascaused a huge loss of Rs 10 lakh to vendors in the past year,the official said, adding this has not only frightened thembut also passengers. Rats have torn luggage bags in cloakrooms too. One can find rats weighing more than half-a-kg. "They pose a threat to children as they can bite if youare not attentive," said a passenger. The rats also nibble on packets of food and scamper awayeven before then can be shooed off, said a snacks vendor. As the rats have a field day, railway employees have tosweat it out while collecting pieces of tattered importantgovernment documents stored in record rooms at the station,whose foundation stone was laid in 1914 and the building wascompleted in 1923. Architecturally, the station painted in red and white isconsidered one of the most beautiful railway stations inIndia. It incorporates the mix of Rajput, Awadhi and Mughalarchitecture and has a palatial appearance. Rats have dug upthe base of this grand building. A unique feature of the Charbagh railway station is thatan aerial view of the station building shows it as a chessboard and the domes and pillars of the building appear to bepieces of a chess game. The Charbagh station is one of the two main railwaystations of Lucknow city for broad gauge trains. It derives its name from the words ‘Char Bagh’ — or fourgardens — which existed earlier. It is one of the busiest railway stations in the countrywith over 85 passenger trains originating from here and morethan 300 trains passing through the station for cities likeBengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, New Delhi, Mumbai, Jammu Tawi,Guwahati, Chandigarh, Pune, Jaipur and Bhopal. PTI SMI ZMNRCJ