A washroom constructed at millions of rupees at the key Ragama railway station Junction has remained closed for several months simply because a top bureaucrat from Colombo is required to commission it.
 The locked male washroom on platform number 4. After dusk it is a vice den. |
Employees at the railway station said that the new washroom could be rented out to a private entity where a small fee could be charged from the users.
But this not happening because according to prevailing bureaucratic protocol a top official from Railway Headquarters in Colombo is required to open it.
And that not all. The spacious male washroom on platform No 4 has remained closed for the past three years with no steps taken to rectify the matter.
Thousands of railway commuters pass through the entry and exit gates at this key railway station and this includes thousands of patients from the North Central Teaching Hospital and a host of other private medical institutions situated in the vicinity.
It is reliably learnt that the closed male rest room at platform No. 4 turns into a vice den after dusk used by prostitutes, pimps, drug users and so on in connivance with certain railway security personnel minor staff who are on the take.
What is even more frightening is that the lights in the washroom area on platform 4 are kept out of service either by design or whatever creating a serious threat to the train commuters.