Railway service has also come to a standstill in the lockdown running since March 24 due to Coronavirus infection in the country. In such a situation, the option is now being churned to get the Railways out of a huge deficit. The rail administration had stopped passenger driving from March 21, with a nationwide lockdown to prevent corona. Later, food, medicine and coal are being transported from the goods train. From March 22 to April 14, Rs 830 crore was given to the passengers for returning 55 lakh tickets. 660 crore will have to be returned if the 39 lakh reserved tickets are returned from 15 April to 3 May.
In Moradabad Railway Division, 30 crore passengers have been returned from 21 to 31 March. From April 1 to May 3, 40 million is to be paid to the advance ticket takers. On the other hand, due to the deteriorating economic condition of the railways, many salaries of officers and personnel are being cut. Railway Board Chairman and Northern Railway General Manager losses two to three days a week and video conferencing takes place after recovering from it. Serious consideration is also being given to increasing the extra load on the food and e-tickets provided in the train, eliminating the concession on freight, not running the lossless passenger train.
Senior divisional commercial manager Rekha told that due to the lockdown, Rs 70 crore passengers are to be returned to the mandal. Notice of vacant land etc. has been sent from Moradabad division headquarters. In this, instead of increasing passenger fare, it is being considered to make commercial use of the vacant railway property, increase the additional weightage on catering and e-tickets, eliminate the concession in freight.
