Railways halves VIP List, MLAs and ex-MPs dumped

Railways halves VIP List, MLAs and ex-MPs dumped

New Delhi: The Indian Railways has nearly halved its VIP list, axing MLAs and former MPs from the privileged club.

In a circular issued last month by Vikram Singh, Director, Passenger Marketing, companions of ex-MPs, certain categories of senior government officials, and holders of Golden Pass, which was issued to former Railway Board members and » passengers who clocked more than 30,000 km in AC coaches, have also been taken off the VIP list.

The revised list comprises national award winners, sitting MPs, their spouses and companions, members of senior judiciary, and senior railway officials.

Railway officials have been instructed to make VIP reservations only according to the new list. They have also been asked to make necessary modifications to the booking software so that VIPs can book tickets only under the five new codes for emergency quota reservations. This will ensure that the booking system automatically assigns a star mark against VIP bookings that can be tallied by the respective stations while they make their skeleton charts, and a confirmed booking to the VIPs can be allotted after this.

Earlier, Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu had appealed to all MPs to submit specimen signatures to the ministry for processing requests for berth allotment in trains. He had also laid down a procedure to be followed when such requests were made in order to minimise misuse. The letter specified that a request for booking under the emergency quota for VIPs should include details like address and telephone number, and asked the MPs’ offices to keep a count of such letters on a monthly basis.

The letter was sent out after several MPs complained that fake letters with their forged signatures had been sent to get tickets confirmed under the emergency quota.