CASE STUDY

 

Surprise check at the platform no.1 of Bhubaneswar station (East Coast Railway) on 16th September’04 between 14.30 hrs to 16.00 hrs with the help of a team of Reserve Force & other TIAs revealed the following lapses committed by the TTEs .

 

1.  Waltair based TTEs (on duty) manning the coaches of 1020 Konark Express were found issuing EFTs with minimum charge of UBL of Rs. 30/- (Rupees Thirty only) per person to the passengers holding unreserved SPTM tickets for short distance destinations, like Berhampur, Balugaon, Chattrapur and then allowing them to board the train in the reserved coaches.

 

2.      On enquiry, it was learnt that such an irregular practice is being resorted by the TTEs in order to achieve the daily target of penalty cases, particularly under Category C.  They have been doing this as an easy and shortcut mean to achieve the target imposed on them while being blissfully unaware of the fact that such an unethical practice followed by them leads to leakage of railway revenue (For example, Railway looses Rs.38/- (Rupees Thirty Eight only) in case of one adult traveling in reserved compartment from BBS to BAM on an unreserved ticket and with an UBL-EFT).  As ascertained from the reporting done by RF TIAs, this practice is rampant in two trains starting from BBS i.e 7015 Visakha Exp & 1020 Konark Express.  And, unfortunately the TTE squads of KUR division too were reported to be adopting this unethical practice.

 

Quite a few no. of cases were detected within a short span of time just before the departure of the train. At this stage, the ticket checking staff were cautioned not to adopt the short-cut procedure in booking bogus penalty cases while incurring loss to railway’s revenue through short realization of charges.

 

After a gap of 4(four) days, another surprise check was undertaken on 17th September ’04 in the running Train no. 1020 Konark Express between BBS to VZM with the help of the same team of TIAs.  Interestingly, the check substantiated the findings of the previous checking done on 14th September ’04 at station platform of BBS.

 

  1. Most of the passengers traveling in II Sleeper (reserved compartment) were holding    unreserved SPTM tickets for destination like BAM and EFTs for UBL (Rs. 30/- per person) even though they were not carrying any excess luggage beyond the permissible weight.

 

  1. A total amount of Rs 6242/- (Rupees six thousand two hundred and forty two only) has been collected towards the undercharges and penalty in the process of the ticket checking.

 

  1. An amount of Rs. 8947/-(Rupees eight thousand nine hundred and forty seven only) was debited for non-realization of undercharges and penalty, which should have been otherwise collected from the passengers by the TTEs manning the reserved coaches.

 

Just try to assess the extent of revenue loss over a period of time due to adoption of an irregular practice by the Ticket checking staff of this railway even though they have been religiously achieving the targets for booking the penalty cases albeit under the wrong heads.

 

N.B. The matter has been highlighted to the Commercial authorities and also the General Manager , who have advised to take a series of preventive action so that the lapses do not recur.