I have many a times applied some 100 Newton force on my mind so that it vomits out any idea on how to curb corruption in our country and if the Railway ministry hears my words I might ascend a rung in my quest.
A week ago I was travelling from Sonpur to Surat by an express train. I was looking forward to a very hectic journey which was to last for more than 30 hours and to make things worse, my ticket was waitlisted. Two sleepless nights had switched on their vacuum and were sucking me in.
The TTE made his pocket heavy by Rs 300 and mine lighter by the same amount for allotting me an already empty seat for half the journey. That spared me a night and for the second night my well-wisher turned out to be the attendant who offered me a seat into the cupboard where they keep pillows and bed sheets. Robert Langdon would have surely succumbed there. That made me shed off Rs 150.
My dad had told me that at the station I may even bargain with the agents who sell tickets at more than double the actual rates. Overpaying again and again and yet again!
Was this all even necessary if the authorities had increased the no. of coaches in the train? The maximum number of coaches which a train can handle is 24, so why are only a few of them running at that number. Certainly increasing the number of coaches reduces the speed and the train takes more time to reach its destination but then how many Indian trains (except for Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express) make it on time. For the masses, ‘reaching there’ is more important than ‘reaching there quickly’. And then the authorities will say that it’s not economically viable. But can’t we ignore their economics and pay heed to the helplessness of people who have to travel. In fact, augmentation of capacity has been carried out in order to meet increasing demand in the past. The number of coaches on each train was increased to 24, from 16, which increased costs by 28% but increased revenues by 78%.
Since the max is 24, length of platform, stability of train on track and all these things come into limelight only when the number increases beyond 24. So why not make all the 17s and 20s 24.
My point here is increasing the number of seats will liquidate the petty bribe which we have to pay to the TTE. Corruption should be curbed from its root. If we start punishing the guilty more than half the government’s people or officials otherwise will come under the banner. Everyone as an urge to earn a little extra! People are fraudulent by force and not by will.
A week ago I was travelling from Sonpur to Surat by an express train. I was looking forward to a very hectic journey which was to last for more than 30 hours and to make things worse, my ticket was waitlisted. Two sleepless nights had switched on their vacuum and were sucking me in.
The TTE made his pocket heavy by Rs 300 and mine lighter by the same amount for allotting me an already empty seat for half the journey. That spared me a night and for the second night my well-wisher turned out to be the attendant who offered me a seat into the cupboard where they keep pillows and bed sheets. Robert Langdon would have surely succumbed there. That made me shed off Rs 150.
My dad had told me that at the station I may even bargain with the agents who sell tickets at more than double the actual rates. Overpaying again and again and yet again!
Was this all even necessary if the authorities had increased the no. of coaches in the train? The maximum number of coaches which a train can handle is 24, so why are only a few of them running at that number. Certainly increasing the number of coaches reduces the speed and the train takes more time to reach its destination but then how many Indian trains (except for Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express) make it on time. For the masses, ‘reaching there’ is more important than ‘reaching there quickly’. And then the authorities will say that it’s not economically viable. But can’t we ignore their economics and pay heed to the helplessness of people who have to travel. In fact, augmentation of capacity has been carried out in order to meet increasing demand in the past. The number of coaches on each train was increased to 24, from 16, which increased costs by 28% but increased revenues by 78%.
Since the max is 24, length of platform, stability of train on track and all these things come into limelight only when the number increases beyond 24. So why not make all the 17s and 20s 24.
My point here is increasing the number of seats will liquidate the petty bribe which we have to pay to the TTE. Corruption should be curbed from its root. If we start punishing the guilty more than half the government’s people or officials otherwise will come under the banner. Everyone as an urge to earn a little extra! People are fraudulent by force and not by will.
