E-Paper
Two MPs rue inability to get train reservations
The MPs also sought details for the rules regarding ticket confirmation under VIP quota for MPs.
Two Members of Parliament (MPs) from Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday used question hour to ask Indian Railways why wait-listed tickets for travel during the peak festive season, October, were not confirmed despite their intervention.
The two MPs, both from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Upendra Singh Rawat and Kaushal Kishore, in a question to the union minister of railways Piyush Goyal asked “whether the Government is aware that the wait-listed tickets of the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar bound trains on the occasion of Holi, Dussehra, Diwali and Chhath Parv, are not being confirmed on the request of Hon’ble MPs due to which they have to feel ashamed in front of their relatives.”
The MPs also sought details for the rules regarding ticket confirmation under VIP quota for MPs.
“ I had written to the railway ministry seeking to confirm a few tickets during Diwali for some people who had requested me from my constituency through the MP quota. Some of them could not be confirmed at the time. I was later told this was due to high demand during festival season,” said Upendra Singh Rawat who is an MP from Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki constituency.
In his reply the minister said that the demand for reserved accommodation on Indian Railways is not uniform throughout the year and varies from time to time.
“During peak rush period, the demand outstrips the availability whereas during the lean period the accommodation is generally available in most of the trains. During peak rush periods, such as Holi, summer vacations, Pooja/Dussehra holidays, Diwali/Chhath, winter vacations, etc., the accommodation in important/popular trains gets exhausted within a short time,” Goyal wrote.
VIP quotas are using during urgent travel requirements of High Official Requisition (HOR) holders, which includes central government ministers, judges of the Supreme Court and high courts of states, and MPs. For Other emergent demands, who are on the waiting list, a limited number of berths/seats are been earmarked as Emergency Quota in different trains and in different classes.
“This quota is released by the staff in accordance with the priority as per ‘warrant of precedence’ and well established practice being followed since long. At the time of allotment of accommodation, emergency quota is first allotted for self-travel of HOR holders/Members of Parliament, etc., strictly as per their inter-se seniority in ‘warrant of precedence’,” Goyal said.
“Thereafter, other requisitions received from various quarters including that from Members of Parliament are considered and the remaining quota is released taking into account various factors like official status of passengers travelling, nature of urgency like travelling on government duty, bereavement in the family, sickness, job interview, etc. While the requests received from Hon’ble Members of Parliament for their self travel are complied with, in case of requests forwarded by them for other than self travel, at times, it is not feasible to accommodate all such requests when the demand exceeds availability,” he added.
