The user must pay, yes, but for what ?
Passengers must pay more, says the Railways. So they have increased the fares of Special trains by more than 100% and made several trains Super fast recently. The trains doing 53 kmph earlier now do 55 kmph, the speed norm for super fast trains. Passengers pay Rs.30 (SL), Rs. 45( 2& 3 tier A/c) as Super fast surcharge.
Rock Fort express. Tiruchi-Chennai arrives at 04-40 hours at Chennai. While the buses are infrequent, taxis and autos charge double as night fare. Passengers end up paying Rs.100 more. Consumers’ plea to re-designate these trains as express train was ignored by Railway Bureaucrats. Poor Mr. Prabhu! He dare not cross the line drawn by them. He is unable to reform even the present accounting system (a stumbling block for private investment ) although he himself is a chartered Accountant.
True, as Arun Jaitley said, the user must pay for the services he receives. Then it logically follows that the non-user of Railways should not pay to support the Railway expenses. When no services are offered, no fee can be collected. This is a legal maxim.
Like Theni in Tamilnadu, Kodagu in Karnataka, several districts in MP, H.P , Odissa, Uttarakhand, Jharkand, Chattisgarh J&K etc., and State of Sikkim do not have a Railway station and millions have not seen a train. The majority of the Indians rarely travel by train. When Mr. Jaitley provides money from the General Budget, he is sucking money from these non-users to give it to the corrupt and inefficient Railways.
Fare hike will be a self-inflicted punishment as passenger revenue is already going down. ( Railway Budget speech 2016-17) Railways must look at other options to raise funds.
First things first: The atrocious 66.82 % staff cost ( RTI ) (staff cost Rs.68449 crores plus Pension outgo Rs..40,409 crores out of its total receipts Rs.162,960 crores -2016-2017) is their own making because Railways is considered a mere job provider . Nowhere in the world the staff cost would be in this proportion in any industry. Railways need a surgical strike to cut down the staff strength ( now 13 lakhs ), to begin with, by 4 lakhs, and they would get around Rs.55,000 crores. though they have to spend Rs.30,000 crores on their pension.
The outcry that will follow retrenchment, redeployment and VRS has to be faced and silenced. It is easier now than ever since the current crop of Union leaders are shivering in their shoe
s fearing a CBI raid as their accumulated wealth is perhaps 100 times their declared income. A strike threat last year was fused after a CBI raid. When Tiruchirappalli Senior Divisional Commercial Manager suspended several TTEs and transferred many for claiming TA and DA on days when the trains were cancelled, the protest by the TTEs became a whimper with no help from the Union whose leaders had been raided also by IT.. The Chief Vigilance Commissioner has said that corruption is on the increase in Railways and most of the complaints received are only about the Railways.( Aug.4th, 2015, ToI ). Pantry cars host passengers as the “revenue” goes to meet the demands of the officers, says a Pantry car Superintendent.
The corrupt in the bureaucracy will quit once Mr. Prabhu convinces the Nation by his action that he does not tolerate corruption. Leave alone winning the race, Mr. Prabhu has not yet reached the starting line. Several thousands of crores could be saved if the Ministry decides to fight corruption.
The self-serving Railway bureaucrats made 17 zones out of 9 so that they get their promotions and perks. Bibek Debroy report says that the efficiency had not increased even by 1% percent. Babus in British-built Bungalows still have 1107 Bungalow peons although 1973 Pay commission recommended their abolition. (CAG report ) 17 Zones must be shrunk to 5 corporations each having its own Board with outside experts serving them, to save a few thousand crores. Now the Board is of the employees, by the employees and for the employees.
Talking of efficiency can only be a joke when the Operating Ratio is 96.5 % (RTI) in 2016-17. If it is brought down to 75% as it was in 2007-08, a clear saving of Rs.34, 222 crores will accrue.
Unleashing its Telecom potential and sale of its own unused lands (a pucca inventory is yet to be prepared. – Debroy report) will take care of its capital expenditure for two years.
Lease of its 220 sub-divisional,73 Divisional and 17 Zonal Hospitals and Health units of most of the 7589 stations on condition that Railway men should continue to enjoy the facilities at nominal cost, would easily fetch Rs.10,000 crores.
The standing Parliamentary committee on Railways must force these suggestions down the unwilling throats of its Bureaucrats –the built-in threat to this institution-to rejuvenate the Railways, which is now in ICU.
S. Pushpavanam
Secretary, Consumer Protection Council, Tamilnadu more
Passengers must pay more, says the Railways. So they have increased the fares of Special trains by more than 100% and made several trains Super fast recently. The trains doing 53 kmph earlier now do 55 kmph, the speed norm for super fast trains. Passengers pay Rs.30 (SL), Rs. 45( 2& 3 tier A/c) as Super fast surcharge.
Rock Fort express. Tiruchi-Chennai arrives at 04-40 hours at Chennai. While the buses are infrequent, taxis and autos charge double as night fare. Passengers end up paying Rs.100 more. Consumers’ plea to re-designate these trains as express train was ignored by Railway Bureaucrats. Poor Mr. Prabhu! He dare not cross the line drawn by them. He is unable to reform even the present accounting system (a stumbling block for private investment ) although he himself is a chartered Accountant.
True, as Arun Jaitley said, the user must pay for the services he receives. Then it logically follows that the non-user of Railways should not pay to support the Railway expenses. When no services are offered, no fee can be collected. This is a legal maxim.
Like Theni in Tamilnadu, Kodagu in Karnataka, several districts in MP, H.P , Odissa, Uttarakhand, Jharkand, Chattisgarh J&K etc., and State of Sikkim do not have a Railway station and millions have not seen a train. The majority of the Indians rarely travel by train. When Mr. Jaitley provides money from the General Budget, he is sucking money from these non-users to give it to the corrupt and inefficient Railways.
Fare hike will be a self-inflicted punishment as passenger revenue is already going down. ( Railway Budget speech 2016-17) Railways must look at other options to raise funds.
First things first: The atrocious 66.82 % staff cost ( RTI ) (staff cost Rs.68449 crores plus Pension outgo Rs..40,409 crores out of its total receipts Rs.162,960 crores -2016-2017) is their own making because Railways is considered a mere job provider . Nowhere in the world the staff cost would be in this proportion in any industry. Railways need a surgical strike to cut down the staff strength ( now 13 lakhs ), to begin with, by 4 lakhs, and they would get around Rs.55,000 crores. though they have to spend Rs.30,000 crores on their pension.
The outcry that will follow retrenchment, redeployment and VRS has to be faced and silenced. It is easier now than ever since the current crop of Union leaders are shivering in their shoe
s fearing a CBI raid as their accumulated wealth is perhaps 100 times their declared income. A strike threat last year was fused after a CBI raid. When Tiruchirappalli Senior Divisional Commercial Manager suspended several TTEs and transferred many for claiming TA and DA on days when the trains were cancelled, the protest by the TTEs became a whimper with no help from the Union whose leaders had been raided also by IT.. The Chief Vigilance Commissioner has said that corruption is on the increase in Railways and most of the complaints received are only about the Railways.( Aug.4th, 2015, ToI ). Pantry cars host passengers as the “revenue” goes to meet the demands of the officers, says a Pantry car Superintendent.
The corrupt in the bureaucracy will quit once Mr. Prabhu convinces the Nation by his action that he does not tolerate corruption. Leave alone winning the race, Mr. Prabhu has not yet reached the starting line. Several thousands of crores could be saved if the Ministry decides to fight corruption.
The self-serving Railway bureaucrats made 17 zones out of 9 so that they get their promotions and perks. Bibek Debroy report says that the efficiency had not increased even by 1% percent. Babus in British-built Bungalows still have 1107 Bungalow peons although 1973 Pay commission recommended their abolition. (CAG report ) 17 Zones must be shrunk to 5 corporations each having its own Board with outside experts serving them, to save a few thousand crores. Now the Board is of the employees, by the employees and for the employees.
Talking of efficiency can only be a joke when the Operating Ratio is 96.5 % (RTI) in 2016-17. If it is brought down to 75% as it was in 2007-08, a clear saving of Rs.34, 222 crores will accrue.
Unleashing its Telecom potential and sale of its own unused lands (a pucca inventory is yet to be prepared. – Debroy report) will take care of its capital expenditure for two years.
Lease of its 220 sub-divisional,73 Divisional and 17 Zonal Hospitals and Health units of most of the 7589 stations on condition that Railway men should continue to enjoy the facilities at nominal cost, would easily fetch Rs.10,000 crores.
The standing Parliamentary committee on Railways must force these suggestions down the unwilling throats of its Bureaucrats –the built-in threat to this institution-to rejuvenate the Railways, which is now in ICU.
S. Pushpavanam
Secretary, Consumer Protection Council, Tamilnadu more
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View all 37 comments Below 37 comments
I am fine with fare increase, but I also need Cleanliness, Speed, Punctuality and Safety. Without all these , there is no point in increasing Fares. more
Oct 23
The over ambitious & impractical finance minister and the railways minister should refrain from venturing another hike in rail fares and other charges to make rail journey further costlier without offering any additional facilities, comfort and security, which may be suicidal as the air lines are offering much cheaper air travel through out the years. The fares being offered at times are even cheaper than the journey in AC II class and saves 90% of times required for a train journey. It is much more comfortable and safe as well. Mr. Prabhu should just awake and initiate action. more
Aug 18
Prey what makes you think that the present govt is overambitious.If you do not set a big goal you can't achieve even small progress,until you believe in the dictum ami Kaaj Korbut na but amake ditte hobe more
Aug 18
While the fares have gone up, I do not see any noticeable improvement in the services provided. Be it state of Platforms, condition of Coaches, Standard of service, punctuality etc. Main reason is the "Government employee" who has nothing to lose, whatever be his lapses. more
Aug 16
This is the beauty of typical monopolized government agency. They do not have courage to increase passenger fairs for political purposes but punish people though such underhand tactics. more
Aug 16
Sir, we Indians are so used to freebies and subsidy that any increase in fares will be vehemently opposed especially in West Bengal and Bihar, but people want more and more facilitirs and comfort,Besides the Railways are carrying the social obligation of having more pensioners on roll than active service personal and have also to keep up modernization .Where do, they get the funds from? more
Aug 21
For the past three years or so, the Railways seems to heave been adapting to the tactics of collecting some or the other charges on one pretext or the other. The sad part of it is the people who were earlier opposing the fare increase of even Re 1/- are now keeping quiet for any amount of increase. The Railways increased platform ticket, insurance fee for the passengers, railway fare etc etc. But the surprising part is no one has bothered to even check the corruption prevailing in the Railways. Please attempt to book transporting of your motor bike from one city to another and write your experience here. Please attempt to become an honest supplier to Railways, we would like to hear from you. In case the train is cancelled the money to the passengers gets refunded after 5-6 months. What else could be written for such a defiant Govt service sector. more
Aug 16
BJP was mainly opposing any proposal for an increase in rail fares and other charges tooth and nail only to get political edge over the ruling party. It has little concern for the common men, majority of whom are living below the poverty lines. History says that the party in power in the centre had always been concerned in protecting the interests of the effluents. Jaitly himself is a billionair having little idea & concern about poverty and starving. Fixation of slabs of GST on various daily need items and on medicines indicates as to how casual and insensitive the minister is towards the plight of the majority of our citizens.
In the beginning of his carrier as Railway Minister, Prabhu had been successful in creating a very positive image of himself and the common man started to believe that he is a man of determination who believes only in action & achieving the targets with an uncompromising attitude with the dishonest and non-performers. With this point in view, no one opposed his lines of action to increase rail fare and other charges to generate additional revenue in the initial stage of his tenure hoping for renovation and rejuvenation of Indian rails. But as time passed, the minister appears to have surrendered himself to the prevailing odds in the nation's prime public transport company.
As rightly said, instead of declaring further hikes in rail fares making rail journey costlier without providing the minimum required facilities to make rail journey comfortable and safety, the railways should pay its serious attention towards other avenues (some of which are available in the above post) to increase its revenue to take care of the railways' renovation and modernisation.
Prevailing corruptions in the institution have become cancerous and any further delay to fight & eradicate it with iron hands will make it boneless. more
In the beginning of his carrier as Railway Minister, Prabhu had been successful in creating a very positive image of himself and the common man started to believe that he is a man of determination who believes only in action & achieving the targets with an uncompromising attitude with the dishonest and non-performers. With this point in view, no one opposed his lines of action to increase rail fare and other charges to generate additional revenue in the initial stage of his tenure hoping for renovation and rejuvenation of Indian rails. But as time passed, the minister appears to have surrendered himself to the prevailing odds in the nation's prime public transport company.
As rightly said, instead of declaring further hikes in rail fares making rail journey costlier without providing the minimum required facilities to make rail journey comfortable and safety, the railways should pay its serious attention towards other avenues (some of which are available in the above post) to increase its revenue to take care of the railways' renovation and modernisation.
Prevailing corruptions in the institution have become cancerous and any further delay to fight & eradicate it with iron hands will make it boneless. more
Aug 18
