The Hindu : Private counters for rail tickets favoured

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 26, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Private counters for rail tickets favoured

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, FEB. 25. The Minister of State for Railways, Basanagouda R. Patil Yatnal, has favoured privatisation of railway reservation.

Speaking to presspersons after inaugurating Bangalore's 15th passenger reservation centre at the airport here on Wednesday, he said that a private counter set up on a trial basis in Mumbai was doing well. The counter charged Rs. 50 more for every ticket. He said people living in areas that were far away from railway stations had difficulty in booking tickets.

There were instances of people spending Rs. 100 to Rs. 200 just to book the ticket. This could be avoided if a private agent in their area was able to reserve the tickets for them.But a decision on opening more private reservation counters could only be taken by the new Government, he said.

The Minister said he had written to the Speaker of the dissolved Assembly, M.V. Venkatappa, expressing a wish to open a reservation counter near the Vidhana Soudha if space was provided for it.

Mr. Yatnal said the response to the "Railnir" scheme of the Railways wherein packaged drinking water was sold at Rs. 10 a litre had received good response in Northern Railways. It would be extended to all the 15 zones. On complaints about the poor quality of food served on some reputed trains, the Minister said action had already been taken in one case.

The Minister said the new reservation centre at the airport would be of help to the people residing in nearby areas. If one counter was not adequate, more counters would be opened, he said.

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