Stuck on the waitlist? Blame RPF-tout nexus
Inquiry against RPF officer who recommended emergency quota berths to passengers buying waitlisted tickets from select touts
By Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Monday, February 01, 2010 ( http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News%20-%20City§id=3&contentid=201002012010020102211439f7761a80)
Wondering why your waitlisted train tickets never get confirmed but a few down the list are allotted berths? Blame it on unholy nexus between an RPF officer and a few touts, lapping up majority of the berths released under the emergency quota (EQ).
Hand in glove with a few touts in the city, the RPF officer allegedly recommended allotment of emergency quota berths to passengers buying tickets from them at a premium. Several shady deals on, the personnel is now on the radar of the railway authorities. An inquiry has been ordered against him.
Following a series of complaints on rampant misuse of emergency quota berths, the commercial department of Ahmedabad railway division recently launched a drive to put brakes on the evil practice. Three days ago, a raid was conducted on Porbandar-Howrah Express to stop misuse of emergency quota berths.
When they asked a sleeper class passenger who recommended his case for allotment of emergency berth, he was baffled. After remaining mum for a while, he said: “I talked to one Girish to get a confirmed ticket. I paid Rs 750 to his representative, Kumar, when he handed me this ticket (on which he was travelling).”
After verification, the railway authorities found the ticket was issued from the computer reservation centre at Sabarmati. On further probe, they found the waitlisted ticket was confirmed on the basis of a recommendation letter from the Deputy Security Commissioner’s (DSC) office in Ahmedabad. It was undersigned by an RPF officer, Nihal Singh, posted in Palanpur.
Taking serious note of the incident, the commercial department prepared a file comprising the statement of the passenger, and photocopies of his ticket and the recommendation letter. Thereafter, the file was sent to DSC Rafique Ahmed for further inquiry.
Ahmed said: “We have taken the incident seriously. An inquiry has been initiated.
RPF inspector, Ahmedabad, KD Patel is conducting the probe.
Sources said touts charge Rs 200-250 extra for confirming waitlisted tickets. They allegedly use letter heads of political leaders, railway associations and railway officers surreptitiously for recommendation of emergency berths to their clients.
The misuse of emergency quota had come to light last May with the arrest of Girish Cyria, a railway ticket tout. He had used the letter head of a BJP leader to get a ticket confirmed in name of one Kaderbhai. Thereafter, he sold the confirmed ticket to another person, K Sanjiv.
Not urgent enough
Emergency quota berths should ideally be allotted to passengers needing to travel for extremely urgent reasons. Ministers, high bureaucrats as well as members of Parliament and their staff are entitled to recommend release of emergency quota If emergency quota berths remain vacant, they are allotted to waitlisted passengers. Some touts are misusing allotment of this quota allegedly with help from a few RPF personnel.
By Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Monday, February 01, 2010 ( http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News%20-%20City§id=3&contentid=201002012010020102211439f7761a80)
Wondering why your waitlisted train tickets never get confirmed but a few down the list are allotted berths? Blame it on unholy nexus between an RPF officer and a few touts, lapping up majority of the berths released under the emergency quota (EQ).
Hand in glove with a few touts in the city, the RPF officer allegedly recommended allotment of emergency quota berths to passengers buying tickets from them at a premium. Several shady deals on, the personnel is now on the radar of the railway authorities. An inquiry has been ordered against him.
Following a series of complaints on rampant misuse of emergency quota berths, the commercial department of Ahmedabad railway division recently launched a drive to put brakes on the evil practice. Three days ago, a raid was conducted on Porbandar-Howrah Express to stop misuse of emergency quota berths.
When they asked a sleeper class passenger who recommended his case for allotment of emergency berth, he was baffled. After remaining mum for a while, he said: “I talked to one Girish to get a confirmed ticket. I paid Rs 750 to his representative, Kumar, when he handed me this ticket (on which he was travelling).”
After verification, the railway authorities found the ticket was issued from the computer reservation centre at Sabarmati. On further probe, they found the waitlisted ticket was confirmed on the basis of a recommendation letter from the Deputy Security Commissioner’s (DSC) office in Ahmedabad. It was undersigned by an RPF officer, Nihal Singh, posted in Palanpur.
Taking serious note of the incident, the commercial department prepared a file comprising the statement of the passenger, and photocopies of his ticket and the recommendation letter. Thereafter, the file was sent to DSC Rafique Ahmed for further inquiry.
Ahmed said: “We have taken the incident seriously. An inquiry has been initiated.
RPF inspector, Ahmedabad, KD Patel is conducting the probe.
Sources said touts charge Rs 200-250 extra for confirming waitlisted tickets. They allegedly use letter heads of political leaders, railway associations and railway officers surreptitiously for recommendation of emergency berths to their clients.
The misuse of emergency quota had come to light last May with the arrest of Girish Cyria, a railway ticket tout. He had used the letter head of a BJP leader to get a ticket confirmed in name of one Kaderbhai. Thereafter, he sold the confirmed ticket to another person, K Sanjiv.
Not urgent enough
Emergency quota berths should ideally be allotted to passengers needing to travel for extremely urgent reasons. Ministers, high bureaucrats as well as members of Parliament and their staff are entitled to recommend release of emergency quota If emergency quota berths remain vacant, they are allotted to waitlisted passengers. Some touts are misusing allotment of this quota allegedly with help from a few RPF personnel.
