DM arrives late, sparks min’s fury, reprimand

DM arrives late, sparks min’s fury, reprimand

 Neha.Lalchandani@timesofindia.com 

28.03.2026

Lucknow : Made to wait for 45 minutes by the district magistrate at a govt event in his own assembly constituency, Kannauj Sadar, on Thursday, social welfare minister (independent charge) Asim Arun , who was invited as chief guest, first walked out of the programme and later wrote to the district magistrate demanding that he and his team should be more punctual in future.. 

The matter did not end there as the minister started a campaign on Friday evening, asking people to cite incidents where their time was wasted by someone. He named the campaign as ‘Viksit Bharat aur late latifi ek saath nahi chal sakte’. The minister added that it was necessary to emulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for punctuality and discipline. 

Earlier, the minister took the initiative to monitor calls being made by public representatives to officers, after complaints that often their calls were not being attended to for days. Asim told TOI that both the campaigns were aimed at making the bureaucracy answerable. 

 Holding high posts does not give moral right to waste time of others, says Asim In his letter to district magistrate Ashutosh Mohan Agnihotri, after which the DM tendered a ‘letter of regret’, the minister said that at an event organised at Roma Smarak on Thursday, he was invited as chief guest for the event that was to begin at 5.30pm. 

In his letter to the DM, Arun wrote: “The chief organiser was SDM Vaishali who reached 15 minutes after me. The ADM arrived even after her. I waited for around 45 minutes for the programme to start. During this time, they kept announcing from the stage that the event will begin after your arrival. You will agree that the situation became intolerable for me. Nobody knew when you would come so I had no option but to leave.” 

Launching the campaign, Arun said that it was not the issue of insult to any minister and asked that had he not been the chief guest, would the seriousness of this delay be less. He said that people holding high posts did not have a moral right to waste the time of others. “If India wants to become Viksit Bharat, then it is necessary to shed half-heartedness and negligence from our working style. We will have to add punctuality in our DNA. We will have to adhere to time like citizens of Germany, Japan and Switzerland,” he said. 

He asked people to respond with what steps were needed to ensure punctuality at personal and administrative levels in India, as is seen in developed countries. Later, in a letter apologizing to the minister Kannauj DM Ashutosh Mohan Agnihotri blamed a “delay in communication” for the incident. The 2016 batch officer said in his letter that the event had been organized by the District Tourism and Culture Council, Kannauj and the programme was to begin at 5.30 pm. However, the DM added, “the district tourism officer informed him that the show required use of LED lights and at 5.30 pm, a lot of sunlight was anticipated on the open stage. Participants were also delayed and the district tourism officer requested your representative to ask you to delay your arrival till 6.30 pm”. The unpleasant situation arose due to a delay in the communication, he added.

NEWS TODAY 28.03.2026

NEWS TODAY 27.03.2026

IGNOU DEGREE

Railways’ stricter cancellation rules explained: Why you must cancel earlier for better refunds

Railways’ stricter cancellation rules explained: Why you must cancel earlier for better refunds

The Ministry of Railways has tightened train ticket cancellation rules, sharply reducing refunds for cancellations made closer to the time of departure.

Written by: Dheeraj Mishra

4 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Mar 25, 2026 05:54 PM IST

Under the new rules, if a ticket is cancelled up to eight hours before a train’s departure, the passenger will not receive any refund. Rohit Jain Paras

The Ministry of Railways has tightened train ticket cancellation rules, sharply reducing refunds for cancellations made closer to the time of departure. It has also announced that passengers will now be able to change their boarding point up to 30 minutes before the train’s departure.

What are the new train ticket cancellation rules?

Under the new rules, if a ticket is cancelled less than eight hours before a train’s departure, the passenger will not receive any refund. If a ticket is cancelled between eight and 24 hours before departure, 50% of the fare will be refunded, and the remainder will be deducted as a cancellation charge.

For cancellations made between 24 and 72 hours before departure, 75% of the fare will be refunded.

If a ticket is cancelled more than 72 hours in advance, only a minimum flat cancellation charge will apply, and the remaining amount will be refunded.

What were the earlier train ticket cancellation rules?

Earlier, the cancellation rules were categorised into four-hour, 12-hour and 48-hour timelines.

This meant there was no refund for tickets cancelled less than four hours before a train’s departure. There was a 50% refund for cancellations made between four and 12 hours before departure, a 75% refund between 12 and 48 hours before departure, and an almost full refund (after deducting a minimum cancellation charge) for cancellations made more than 48 hours before departure.

Why did the Railways change the rule?

The rules have been changed to align ticket cancellations with changes made to the chart preparation system. Earlier, railway charts were prepared four hours before the departure of the train. With this charting system, RAC and waitlisted passengers receive the status of their ticket booking, indicating whether their ticket has been confirmed or not.

However, last year in July, the Railways changed the charting system, and now the status of a ticket is confirmed between 9 and 18 hours before departure. For trains departing between 5 am and 2 pm, the reservation chart is prepared, preferably by 9 pm the previous day. For trains departing between 2 pm and 11:59 pm, and between 12 am and 5 am, the first reservation chart is prepared, preferably 9 hours in advance.

Officials said that since the charting system was changed to enable passengers to plan their journeys in advance, the cancellation system had to be changed accordingly.

Has it been implemented?

Not yet. The new ticket cancellation refund rules will be implemented between April 1 and April 15.

What has changed regarding boarding points?

The Ministry of Railways has announced that passengers will now be able to change their boarding point up to 30 minutes before the train’s departure. To implement this, a special provision will be made in the ticket booking app, such as RailOne, and the portal, allowing passengers to make changes.

Currently, the boarding point can only be selected at the time of booking a ticket, not afterward.

This will be especially useful in larger cities with multiple stations, where a passenger will be able to choose to board from any of those stations. Officials said this will be implemented by April 15.

While this provision is currently applicable mainly to online tickets, officials said efforts are being made to extend it to counter tickets as well.

What are the other changes announced?

The changes are part of the Railways’ “52 reforms in 52 weeks” this year. The Railways has so far announced a total of nine reforms, including these two passenger-centric measures. Other reforms include salt transportation, automobile transportation, improving the quality of construction, better onboard services such as cleaning of running trains, rail-based logistics through Gati Shakti Cargo terminals, a rail tech policy, and E-RCT.

NEWS TODAY 26.03.2026