Central Railway authorities on Thursday proved at Mulund railway station that sprucing up and maintaining passenger amenities count only when the top brass is visiting. The officials spent the entire day blocking toilets to repair them, whitewashing the walls, putting plaster on entry and exit points, and scrubbing the station clean, just so their bosses could see a spotless station upon their arrival for a Railway Protection Force event in the evening.

When mid-day visited the station in the afternoon, it observed that passenger amenities remained stalled for over two hours, with not a single ticket vending machine was functional on either the east or the west side, and ticket validators were missing from the booking offices at both the CSMT and Thane ends.