Jamshedpur: It is unjustified on the part of railways to give more priority to passengers seeking reservations under Tatkal scheme at the cost of neglecting those under the regular reservations In almost all the cases, lower and middle berths for the aged and the women are seldom allocated, even if reservations are booked one month ahead of journey under the regular quota, whereas, these allocations are unjustly. The situation is very much prevalent at Tatanagar Railway Station.
Tatkal scheme is operated by certain middlemen or commission agents just one day ahead of journey. Hence, just for a differential amount of charges of few hundreds, the passengers under normal quota are denied their comfortable journey as these category of travellers are always sidelined by providing upper and lower side berths.
Moreover, passengers heading towards metro cities from Tatanagar Railway station are facing tough time due to heavy rush in a majority of trains. Vacations have caused a huge rush of commuters in trains on long routes. A long waiting list is causing inconvenience to many, who are not getting confirmation of their seats.
The waiting lists in several trains like Howrah-Mumbai Geetanjali Express, Sambalpur-Howrah Ispat Express, Puri-New Delhi Puroshottam Express, Howrah-Ahmedabad Express and Tatanagar Jammu Tawi is almost exhausted.
Officials at the Tatanagar computerised railway booking counter revealed that waiting lists in several trains like Puri- New Delhi Neelanchal Express, Purushottam Express and Howrah-Ahmedabad Express have reached the 100-mark for the entire May and June month.
Tatanagar station official said every year during the summer vacation such rush is witnessed. Steps are being taken to ease the rush. He went on to inform that South Eastern Railway has decided to attach extra coaches to several long distance trains passing through Tatanagar to accommodate passengers.
�Extra coaches have been attached to some long distance trains from May to clear the rush of passengers. We have also introduced additional coaches slightly ahead of schedule but still the rush is the same,� said an official at Chakradharpur railway reservation control room.
Though summer vacation in schools and other educational institutions begin in the first week of June, the rush for tickets in several long distance trains has already gained pace, especially those heading for Mumbai and New Delhi.
Chief reservation supervisor at Tatanagar, N Ganesh, admitted the rush in advance booking of tickets. � The waiting lists in several trains like Howrah-Mumbai Geetanjali Express, Puri-New Delhi Purushottam Express and Howrah-Ahmedabad Express has crossed the 100 mark for those planning to travel in June,� he said.
