In a quiet move which raised effective train fares for the passengers, the Railway Board issued a notification a few months ago under which divisional regional managers of certain zones were given financial powers to levy a surcharge from passengers who insist on seeking reservation for lower berths.
Though railway officials termed this as a routine exercise, the fact that the notification was issued days before the railway budget, has raised suspicions in passengers about the intention behind the exercise, and allegations are also being levelled that it has been done to rake in some extra money at the last minute.
In fact, in 2005 too, the Railway Board had taken a decision to charge Re 1 from passengers for every cancellation of reservation. However that decision too was rolled back, when it received a negative feedback.
The issue reached Parliament last week, and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav declared that he would roll back the decision.
However, till an official notification is not issued on the rollback, the surcharge would continue to be charged from those insisting on lower berths. In fact had their been no brouhaha over it, there were plans to levy this surchage across all zones from April 1, 2007 onwards.
Indian Railways has been charging upto Rs 30 extra from passengers who insist on booking the lower berth. Reports of this extra surcharge being levied have been received from passengers of UP and Gujarat bound trains.
In the Railway Budget 2007-08, Yadav had announced that lower berth reservations in AC and sleeper coaches have been prioritised for women above 45 years and men above 60 years.
He did not announce any surcharge on others who want to book this berth, but sources say that a notification empowering DRMs to undertake this financial power in their zones, was issued just before the railway budget.
A senior railway official said that these are not surreptitious measures, but are taken by the Railway Board from time to time to on an experimental basis. If they receive public support, then they are officially adopted.