Financial Express: Indore: Thursday, June 29, 2017.
The Indian
Railways collected Rs 14.07 billion through cancellation of reserved tickets on
the request of the commuters in FY 2016-17, registering a 25.29 per cent rise
over previous year’s earning under this head. This information was revealed by
the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), an autonomous organisation
under the Ministry of Railways, in response to a query under the Right to
Information (RTI) by activist Chandrashekhar Gaud. “In its reply, the CRIS
informed that earnings through ticket cancellation has gone up to Rs 14.07
billion during fiscal 2016-17, from Rs 11.23 billion in 2015-16. The earnings
under this head amount were Rs 9.08 billion in fiscal 2014-15 and Rs 9.38
billion in FY 9.38 billion. This information is provided under the Passenger
Reservation System (PRS),” Gaud told PTI today. The Railways is also earning
revenue through the cancellation of unreserved tickets.
As per the
RTI reply, the Railways earned Rs 17.87 crore in FY 2016-17 through Unreserved
Ticketing System (UTS). This amount was Rs 17.23 crore in FY 2015-16 and Rs
14.72 crore in FY 2014-15. Gaud said the rules related to the refund on
cancelled tickets were changed in November 2015 under Railway Passengers
(cancellation of tickets and refund of fare) Rules 2015, under which
cancellation fee was increased up to two times. The RTI activist claimed that
although he had sought the files related to the amendments to rules, the
transporter refused to provide this information terming it as part of the
‘commercial confidence.’ Gaud said the Railways should change the rules for the
refund in the interest of passengers.