(a) whether attention of the Government has been drawn to the news item caption `Parcel Booking Lease Par Dene Se Railway Ko Karoroan Ka Nuksaan` appearing in Jansatta dated January 11, 2000;
(b) if so, the facts reported therein; and
(c) the reaction of the Government thereto?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI DIGVIJAY SINGH )
(a) and (b): Yes, Sir. The news report contains allegations that the scheme for leasing for space in brake vans (SLRs) is causing losses to the Railways because the contractors are committing the irregularities like overloading, carriage of banned/contra banned commodities etc.
(b) a statement is attached.
Statement referred to in reply to part (c) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1244, asked by Dr. Sanjay Paswan for 2.03.2000 regarding Parcel Booking.
(c) the scheme for leasing of SLR space was introduced in 1992-93 to give guaranteed clearance and better quality of service to the customers besides maximizing the loading of parcel traffic and earnings there-from. Based on the experience, it was observed that parcel earnings were not growing in real terms. A revised scheme was announced in February 1999 Rail Budget as per which the front SLRs of all Mail/Express/Superfast/Passenger/Shatabdi/Rajdhani trains can be leased out. Open tenders are invited to lease out SLR space in identified trains and the contract is awarded to the highest bidder to ensure maximum revenue to the Railways. Thus, there is no question of any loss being caused to the Railways by this scheme. This is established by the fact that during the current year so far, there has been an increase of more than 20% in parcel earnings as compared to the corresponding period of last year vis-Ã -vis increase of only 5.2% and 8.8% respectively over two successive previous years.
In order to prevent irregularities by leaseholders like overloading, carriage of banned/ contraband commodities etc., surprise checks are being conducted at regular intervals and appropriate follow-up action as necessary is taken. Further, in order to avoid any hardship to the general customers, the Rear SLR kept under the charge of the train guard is available for booking and clearance of normal traffic.