The country may be moving towards digital modes of payment and going cashless is the new norm but its exactly the opposite at Chandigarh Railway station here.

Ironically, the Rail ticket counters here only deal in cash due to severe paucity of either Point of Sales (POS) machines or awareness about other digital modes of payment.

Railways Official said that they have eight counters for unreserved railway ticket and another six for reserved tickets at the Chandigarh Station but they have only one card swipe Machine. Officials admitted that even this is often not found in a working condition.

Those who want to purchase their ticket through debit card or credit card simply cannot do it here. All they have to dole out is cash for tickets. To add to the woes of the travelers, none of the ATM Machines installed at the station are working for the past six months as the contract has not yet been renewed.

Interestingly Pawan Kumar Bansal, who was the Member of Parliament from Chandigarh remained a Railway Minister  during the UPA regime and brought in several facilities and trains for the people. But since then, authorities have practically abandoned the station. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal though visited Chandigarh Railway station and saw the facilities some time back.

Chandigarh Railway Station is a Important Station of this region with 62 up

and Down trains coming here everyday. An average of round 20,000 people use the station everyday. When contacted  Hari Singh Mohan,SDCM Ambala Railway Division said he has just joined and will look into the matter. “We will try to resolve these problems as soon as possible,” he said.