All part & no parcel of railway’s service

Though railway officials maintain it is not difficult to claim or book parcels at the station, the fact that they have to be auctioned on the 15th day of every month, belies the claim.

As many as 485 parcels are received at the station daily and 700 booked, while around 200 parcels remain unclaimed per month.

Chief luggage supervisor N Patel, however, shrugs that it is difficult to despatch parcels if message from the other station does not land here.

He cites a Hero Honda motorcycle booked in Ujjain, which is yet to be claimed, and despite attempts by authorities to contact the consignee, nobody has come forward yet. Now, the two-wheeler is all set to go under the hammer. What belies the official is the case of N.Joshi, of Chanakyapuri in Sama. “They call you up to inform once and when you go to claim the parcel, they do not even co-operate to see that it is disposed off without hassles”.

Joshi’s parcel was unloaded at some other station instead of Vadodara. Patel says a parcel unloaded at wrong destinations are the railway’s responsibility only for a month. If none claims it, the railways can’t help but auction it. He denies non-cooperation.

R K Pandya, of Karelibaug, had to go to the authorities for a month to claim his parcel. He tells Express Newsline: “My parcel was sent from Delhi and the sender told me that it would arrive here in a week. But the authorities said it had not arrived yet.” On constant followup, he was told he would be informed when the parcel reached Vadodara. Pandya claims: “I was informed after a month and given no reasons for the delay”.

Patel attributes the problems to wrong addresses or lack of response from the receivers. If parcels are being thrown at wrong destinations, the chief luggage supervisor only talks of the consignees not coming in time to collect the parcels, and avoids comments on why the parcel should be dumped at the wrong destinations in the first place. He also parries questions on half-hearted follow-up by the authorities in case the parcels are not claimed for long. And he denies any deliberate attempt by staff to delay the deliveries with any ulterior motives.

Some names have been changed to protect identities.