Kochi: Arun Gopalakrishnan, an Indian Air Force staffer, and his family had a harrowing experience travelling in the AC compartment of Malabar Express.
The family, all set to enjoy their journey, soon realised they had to be contend with bed bugs which left them sleep-deprived. The bed bugs have come at a time when there are already complaints aplenty of cockroaches and rats on trains running through the division. The family had taken the train from Thiruvananthapuram to Calicut on July 17 in a three-tier AC compartment.
“Our daughter was with us. We were all bit by bugs throughout the night. My daughter suffered the most and had rashes on her body”, said Gopalakrishnan, a native of Calicut, posting pictures on social network sites.
“I’m posting this now just to increase awareness about the state of our public transport system. I called the complaint cell to no avail. Please spread this on and don’t let the bugs bite,” he wrote.
When contacted, Thiruvananthapuram Divisional Railway Manager Sunil Bajpai said he would look into the complaint. “The case of bedbugs in AC coaches will be investigated and action taken. The complaint has to be forwarded to me,” he said.
