Travelling pass of fighters misused: CAG
Vincent.Arockiaraj@timesgroup.com
Trichy:14.12.2019
The comptroller and auditor general (CAG) has pointed out serious violations on the part of railway finance officials in issuing free travelling passes to freedom fighters and their spouses. A report on railway finance has stated that the age of most of the beneficiaries is less than that of senior citizen category. Even a 10-year-old has been issued freedom fighter ticket under the concession code ‘FREEDM’. The report further said that in 15 instances, freedom fighter concession tickets were issued with pass number shown as ‘0’.
The audit report also observed the impact of the concessions allowed to passengers on railway earnings and the effectiveness of the existing internal control mechanism to check misuse of concessions.
The report for 2018 submitted recently by the CAG said that the age of 21% of the freedom fighter concessional passengers was less than 70 years, which indicates that the concessions were extended to people who were born after Independence.
According to the report, a total of 1,302 male passengers and 1,898 female passengers who were born after 1947 had been allowed free travel under freedom fighters’ concession. Of these, the age of 1,096 male and 580 female passengers was less than 60.
The CAG findings have raised apprehensions whether the pass holders required any eligibility to avail of free train travel across the country as there is no proper system to prevent irregular multiple booking on the same privilege pass, said the deputy general secretary of Dakshin Railway Employees Union (DREU), D Manoharan.
“The report has revealed that the passenger reservation system (PRS) does not have appropriate input control to validate the age of freedom fighters and allow booking tickets with freedom fighter concession duly linked with freedom fighter pass number. As per the report, the age of 1,096 male and 580 female passengers was less than 60. So, those people must have born only after 1959. If that was the case, how did these people come under freedom fighters’ category,” Manoharan asked.
Vincent.Arockiaraj@timesgroup.com
Trichy:14.12.2019
The comptroller and auditor general (CAG) has pointed out serious violations on the part of railway finance officials in issuing free travelling passes to freedom fighters and their spouses. A report on railway finance has stated that the age of most of the beneficiaries is less than that of senior citizen category. Even a 10-year-old has been issued freedom fighter ticket under the concession code ‘FREEDM’. The report further said that in 15 instances, freedom fighter concession tickets were issued with pass number shown as ‘0’.
The audit report also observed the impact of the concessions allowed to passengers on railway earnings and the effectiveness of the existing internal control mechanism to check misuse of concessions.
The report for 2018 submitted recently by the CAG said that the age of 21% of the freedom fighter concessional passengers was less than 70 years, which indicates that the concessions were extended to people who were born after Independence.
According to the report, a total of 1,302 male passengers and 1,898 female passengers who were born after 1947 had been allowed free travel under freedom fighters’ concession. Of these, the age of 1,096 male and 580 female passengers was less than 60.
The CAG findings have raised apprehensions whether the pass holders required any eligibility to avail of free train travel across the country as there is no proper system to prevent irregular multiple booking on the same privilege pass, said the deputy general secretary of Dakshin Railway Employees Union (DREU), D Manoharan.
“The report has revealed that the passenger reservation system (PRS) does not have appropriate input control to validate the age of freedom fighters and allow booking tickets with freedom fighter concession duly linked with freedom fighter pass number. As per the report, the age of 1,096 male and 580 female passengers was less than 60. So, those people must have born only after 1959. If that was the case, how did these people come under freedom fighters’ category,” Manoharan asked.
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