WAIT FOR TRAIN TICKETS GETs LONGER, THANKS TO LAZY RLY employees

A new token system has failed to speed up issuance of tickets at Kalupur station because slack rly staff call out numbers of people seated in the waiting area at a leisurely pace




By Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Thursday, December 24, 2009 (http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News%20-%20City§id=3&contentid=20091224200912240312292422843e71)

Under the new system, a person has to submit his reservation form, obtain a token and wait for his number to be either called out or flashed on a screen

A new token system introduced by the railways to speed up issuance of tickets at the Kalupur station is working wonders — not for travellers, but for slack ticket attendants, who have found a new way to avoid work.

An RTI query has revealed that such attendants have been giving out fewer tickets in a day than they did when the new system, which ironically is aimed at infusing efficiency among railway staff, was not in place.

Under the new system, informally known as queue management system, a person no longer needs to stand in a line in front of a ticket counter to reserve his a seat on a train. He/she can submit his/her form for train travel, collect a token and simply wait for the attendant to call out his/her number.

Some lazy railway employees are finding this procedure a convenient way to shirk work. They accept forms from people, but don’t immediately call out token numbers to give tickets when the applications are processed. They work at a leisurely pace, in the process issuing fewer tickets.

RTI query exposes inefficiency

According to the information obtained by Kashyap Vyas through RTI, attendants at Kalupur station’s reservation centre processed 3,683 ticket forms in 15 days last year when the token procedure was not in use. When the procedure was put into practice, the number of forms for train travel processed by railway staff in the same period dipped to 2,601. This is a difference of more than 1,000.

‘Old system of queues faster’

Vyas said that tickets were issued swiftly when the procedure was not introduced. “Until last year, there was no token system, so hundreds of people used to stand in a queue at a time to buy tickets. Swelling lines compelled railway staff to issue tickets quickly,” he said. “However, with the token system in place, their productivity has decreased.”

The RTI applicant claimed that the procedure involving tokens was so inefficient that the Bhavnagar and Vadodara railway division had scrapped it. “Earlier, people had to wait in a queue for reservation. Now, they wait while sitting on benches at the railway station,” he said.

“The railways should make it mandatory for its staff members to hand out a certain number of tickets in a day. This is the only way to keep a check on slack railway employees.”

A source in the Ahmedabad railway division said that such a norm already existed. “Each attendant of a ticket counter is required to process at least 120 requests for reservation in a day,” the source said. “However, no one monitors staff members’ productivity every day.”

The source said that slack railway employees were not the only ones delaying issuance of tickets. “Some people just casually fill forms for train travel to while away hours in the fully AC reservation centre. When their token numbers are called out or flashed on a screen, they don’t go and collect their tickets,” the source said. “The attendant of a counter then keeps waiting.”

Token system goes for a toss

3,683

No of reservation forms processed by ticket counters in 15 days when the token procedure was not in use

2,601

No of reservation forms processed by ticket counters in the same period when the token system was in place

We will speed up the TOKEN SYSTEM: RAILWAY OFFICIAL

When Mirror contacted the senior divisional commercial manager (Ahmedabad), Udayshankar Jha, he said that the procedure involving tokens was followed across the world. “It is a very good system as it doesn’t require travellers to wait in a line. However, if some people are unhappy with the system, we will make efforts to speed it up.”

Apart from making the process of issuance of tickets faster, the practice of giving tokens was implemented to weed out ‘agents’ who used to stand in front of counters to reserve seats for others.

Why system doesn’t work

• Attendants of ticket counters accept reservation forms, give tokens to people, but don’t immediately call out, or display, numbers when the applications are processed. They work at a leisurely pace, in the process issuing fewer tickets

• In the old system of queues, swelling crowds compelled such attendants to work faster to avoid people’s fury