MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY
(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)
(a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 503 BY SHRI UPENDRA SINGH RAWAT AND SHRI KAUSHAL KISHORE TO BE ANSWERD IN LOK SABHA ON 20.11.2019 REGARDING CONFIRMATION OF TICKETS ON MP QUOTA
(a) & (b): The demand for reserved accommodation on Indian Railways is not uniform throughout the year and varies from time to time as well as train to train. 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.
In order to meet the urgent travel requirements of High Official Requisition (HOR) holders (which includes Central Government Ministers, Judges of Hon’ble Supreme Court/High Courts of various States), Members of Parliament and other emergent demands, who are on the waiting list, a limited number of berths/seats have 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’. 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 the availability.
(c) & (d): With a view to meet the additional demand including that from the States of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Railways take various measures from time to time some of which are listed below:-
i. Waiting list position of trains including those passing through the States of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar is monitored on regular basis and wherever feasible as well as required, load of the trains is augmented, special trains are run, new trains are introduced subject to operational feasibility, commercial justification, etc.
ii. To facilitate those passengers who have to undertake journey at short notice and to save such passengers from the clutches of unscrupulous elements, facility of Tatkal scheme of reservation is there in which the accommodation becomes available for booking on the previous day of journey from train originating station.
iii. Further, with a view to provide confirmed accommodation to waiting list passengers and to ensure optimal utilisation of available accommodation, Alternate Train Accommodation Scheme known as “VIKALP” has been introduced. For availing this facility, waiting list passenger has to give an option at the time of booking of ticket & passengers with waiting list status at the time of preparation of first reservation charts are shifted to other trains, subject to availability of vacant accommodation.
Taking such measures to facilitate passengers in getting confirmed reserved accommodation is a continuous and ongoing measure.
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