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1,000 platform tickets go a-begging every day
At a precise time when Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu was speaking about saving every rupee to put the railways on a track of development at the Hitec City railway station on Saturday, people at various stations, who came to send off near ones and supposed to purchase Rs 10 platform tickets, were buying the Rs 5 MMTS ticket.
At a precise time when Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu was speaking about saving every rupee to put the railways on a track of development at the Hitec City railway station on Saturday, people at various stations, who came to send off near ones and supposed to purchase Rs 10 platform tickets, were buying the Rs 5 MMTS ticket.
A person who purchases either of the ticket can stay at the platform for two hours. So once they bid goodbye to their loved ones, they leave the station. They are supposed to purchase a platform ticket and not a MMTS ticket but railway authorities are unable to take action. The act is unethical by any yardstick but not illegal.
Every day close to 1,000 platform tickets each costing Rs 10 go a-begging as people who go to send off near ones purchase MMTS tickets. The maximum tickets are bought at Secunderabad followed by Kacheguda, Nampally and Falaknuma. The price of platform tickets was increased from Rs 5 to Rs 10 in April, 2015 with an intention to regulate rush at platforms.
However, the Divisional Railway Managers (DRMs) are empowered to increase the price of a platform ticket beyond Rs 10 in special circumstances and it has been done during peak festival seasons. The last time South Central Railway (SCR) temporarily increased the platform ticket to Rs 20 was in January this year during Sabarimala and Sankranti season.
The railway authorities are unable to do anything about this anomaly. Senior officials say that the directive needs to come from the Railway Ministry. “We know that many people are using the loophole, if I may use the word, and we are unable to do anything about it.”
A ticket collector at the Secunderabad Railway station said that many IT employees who use the MMTS are aware about it and they spread the word. Now many people who come to see-off passengers buy MMTS tickets. Earlier few people knew about this but with the MMTS as a mode of transport has become popular, many are aware and the word spreads.
A senior railway employee said, “The Railways has always been associated with a social cost factor and that is in a way coming in the way. Railways spend Rs 114 to earn every Rs 100.”
By T P Venu
