Letter to MPs: Suresh Prabhu lays down rules for rly tickets under emergency quota

Approximately 5 per cent of total berths and seats in trains are earmarked as emergency quota on an all India basis.

Suresh Prabhu

Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu has written to all MPs to submit specimen signatures to the Ministry for processing requests for berth allotment in trains. He has also laid down a procedure to be followed when such requests are made in order to minimise misuse. The letter was sent out after several MPs complained that fake letters with their forged signatures had been sent to get tickets confirmed under the emergency quota.

Berth allotment requests under the quota are usually made by MPs for their own travel or on behalf of their families. In his letter, Prabhu has written that all such request letters should have a letterhead with details like address, telephone number etc and the MP’s office should number them by month. They should also maintain a register in case there is a need for verification. In case the request is for the MP’s family members, it should be mentioned in the main body of the letter rather than in an annexure. The letters will also need to be sent a day in advance during working hours.

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Approximately 5 per cent of total berths and seats in trains are earmarked as emergency quota on an all India basis. This is to meet urgent travel requirements of people categorised as high official requisition holders, including Union ministers, Supreme Court and High Court judges, MPs/MLAs and VIPs.

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Letter from an MP with his or her letterhead is regarded as one of the most fail-safe ways of getting waiting list tickets confirmed, making the system open to abuse. Hence, the effort to streamline the process, said officials. Maintaining a register would mean that there would be a list of the tickets an MP had got confirmed under the quota. Tallying the register with railway records would show the gaps, if any, and help the ministry to crack down on unwanted elements abusing the system.

“At the time of allotment of berths, preference is given for travel of high dignitaries… The requests for the self travel of MPs are invariably confirmed. Thereafter, other requisitions received from various quarters are considered and the remaining quota is released taking into account factors such as status of passenger travelling, nature of urgency, sickness, job interview etc. The requests forwarded by MPs for other than self travel are generally complied with but, at times, it is not feasible to accommodate such requests when the demand exceeds the availability,” Prabhu wrote in his letter last month.

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