GST on railway catering

PIB Press release dated 6th April, 2018

With a view to remove any doubt or uncertainty in the matter and bring uniformity in the rate of GST applicable to supply of food and drinks made available in trains, platforms or stations, it has been clarified with the approval of the competent authority that the GST rate on supply of food and drinks by the Indian Railways or Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd. or their licensees, whether in trains or at platforms (static units), will be 5% without input tax credit. The copy of letter F.No. 354/03/2018-TRU dated 31.03.2018 (Order No. 2/2018 – GST) issued to the Railway Board is available atwww.cbec.gov.in .

Mumbai Railway Stations

The exits at practically every railway station in Mumbai is choc-a-block with share autos, hawkers, etc. I know of Goregaon east and west which is in bad shape, east more so. Hawkers have descended on the skywalks as well. In the Goregaon skywalk from station to the S.V. road there are hawkers at one end, druggies at other end, in between the lights are stolen, tiles are gone, the spitoons are gone, the waste buckets are gone. But that is a different matter. It is the crowd that we are talking about, its a total mess. Andheri east and west, both are very bad. Chembur is mess on both sides and so is Ghatkopar. Kurla is horrible. Vashi & CBD Belapur are good. Borivli is bad and so is Malad and Kandivli. Dadar is atrocious to say the least. The only station where i found open space near the station is at Mira Road where i had gone recently. No autos or stalls were allowed in that open space. But that was in the early morning hours, so don't know the situation there in the evening hours. So these share autos and hawkers are being protected by the neta mafia, otherwise why would they be allowed to set up stalls there. Decongestion of the area near the railway stations should be done otherwise if there is an accident at the railway tracks, how will the ambulance move smoothly to the nearest hospital within the designated time.

Amenities for women passengers in Indian Railways

Section 58 of the Railways Act, 1989 provides for earmarking of accommodation for female passengers in trains. Accordingly, in trains carrying passengers, Indian Railways have earmarked following accommodation for female passengers: 

i. A reservation quota of six berths in sleeper class in long distance Mail/Express trains. 

ii. A combined quota of four lower berths per coach in Sleeper class and two lower berths per coach in Air Conditioned 3 tier (3AC) and Air Conditioned 2 tier (2AC) classes for Senior citizens, Female passengers 45 years of age and above, and pregnant women. 

iii. Second class accommodation for women in the second Class-cum-Luggage-cum Guard’s Coach (SLR) in most of the long distance trains. 

iv. Unreserved coaches/compartments for female passengers in EMU (Electrical Multiple Unit)/DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit)/MMTS(Multi Modal Transport System) trains & local passenger trains depending upon demand pattern as well as availability of accommodation. 

v. Running of ladies special EMU/MEMU/MMTS services on the suburban sections of Mumbai, Kolkata, Secunderabad and Chennai as well as on the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) sections.

New rules for railway bookings

Railway Ministry introduces new checks on booking of e-ticket/i-ticket through IRCTC website with a view to further prevent possible misuse

Under the new provisions a maximum of 6 tickets can be booked online by an individual user in a month on IRCTC website

This new provision will come into effect w.e.f. 15^th February, 2016

The move aims to deter touts and to facilitate genuine users

In order to facilitate genuine users and prevent touting activities, various checks have already been put in place for the booking of e-ticket/i-ticket on IRCTC website including the following existing provision: -

1.      Individuals are allowed only 2 tickets per user-ID in a day (for ARP booking) from 08:00 hours to 10.00 hours.

2.      Individuals are allowed only 2 tickets per user-ID in a day (for Tatkal booking) from 10:00 hours to 12:00 hours.

3.      Quick Book Option is disabled from 08:00 to 12:00 hours

4.      All types of ticketing agents (YTSK, RTSA, IRCTC agents etc.) have been debarred from booking tickets during the first thirty minutes of opening of booking i.e. from 08:00 to 08:30 hours for general bookings, and from 10:00 to 10:30 hours and 11:00 to 11:30 hours for Tatkal booking in AC and non-AC classes respectively.

5.      Booking is not allowed through e-wallet and cash cards from 08:00 to 12:00 hours.

6.      There is only one booking in one user login session except for return/onward journey between 08:00 to 12:00 hours.

To further prevent any possible misuse, Ministry of Railways has now decided that effective from 15^th February, 2016, a maximum of 6 tickets can be booked online by an individual user in a month on IRCTC website. This will replace the existing system under which a maximum of 10 tickets can be booked online through IRCTC website in a month by an individual. However, the existing condition will continue wherein these booking will be subject to a limit of booking 2 opening Tatkal tickets in 10:00- 12:00 hours period in a day and 2 opening Advance Reservation Period (ARP) tickets in 08:00-10:00 hours period in a day. 

This has been done keeping in view the analysis of usage of quota of 10 tickets which indicated that 90% of users are booking upto 6 tickets in a given month and only 10% are making more than 6 tickets. It is suspected that the 10% users might be involved in touting activities. Therefore to deter such touts and to facilitate genuine users, it has been decided that a maximum of 6 tickets can be booked by an individual user in a month.

FDI in Railway sector

The Government of India has opened up railway infrastructure for domestic as well as foreign investors. Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) press note no. 8 dated 27th August, 2014 has been issued by the government opening up the rail infrastructure for investment by the private sector. The following activities has been opened up for FDI.

Construction, operation, maintenance of

(i) Suburban corridor projects through PPP;
(ii) High speed train projects;
(iii) Dedicated freight lines;
(iv) Rolling stock including train sets, and locomotives/ coaches manufacturing and maintenance facilities
(v) Railway electrification;
(vi) Signalling systems;
(vii) Freight terminals
(viii) Passenger terminals
(ix) Infrastructure in industrial park pertaining to railway line/ sidings including electrified railway lines and connectivities to main railway lines, and
(x) mass rapid transit systems.

100% FDI is allowed automatic basis but FDI beyond 49% of the equity of the investee company in sensitive areas will be put forth to the Cabinet Committee on Security for consideration on a case by case basis.

They have not allowed FDI or private investment in maintenance of railway stations or platforms and that is much needed because the existing infrastructure for maintenance and upkeep of the railway stations and platforms is not at all adequate, especially from the point of view of facilities to the passengers. I thought they should have allowed private investment in online and offline bookings as well because the IRCTC site as we know is totally unreliable.


A copy of the DIPP press note can be found here



 

Rip Off by Indian Railways - 2nd Class A.C passengers cheated

Wife travelled by Indian Railways from Chennai to Bombay via 12164 Chennai Express on 5th July 2014 which arrived into Bombay on 6th July 2014. She was travelling on a 2 tier A.C. ticket. Right from the outset at Chennai itself there was a rip off by Indian Railways as the 2 tier A.C. compartment had only 20 seats against the normal 64 seats in any compartment. With the result that the 2 tier A.C. passengers were forced to sit in 3 tier A.C. seats. The compartment was a combination of 2 tier A.C. and 3 tier A.C. seats.

The TTE (travelling ticket examiner) did not bother to offer any explanation nor any apology for this fracas and they were told by the regular maintenance staff of the Indian railways that this is a regular practice by the Indian Railways wherein the 2 tier class A.C. passengers are forced to sit in the 3 tier A.C. On top of it the TTE also forced the passengers to pay the difference in fares owing to the recent hike in fares by the Indian Railways. Therefore the passengers were paying the normal 2 tier A.C. ticket fare and they were forced to travel in 3 tier A.C. berths.

There was no prior intimation via SMS or any other means by the IRCTC wherein the passengers should have been informed by the Indian railways of the change in their status.

If this is a regular practice going on, then surely it is a scam in the making or a full fledged scam with the connivance of the higher authorities.

People book 2 tier A.C. berths due to the relatively better comfort it provides in terms of the extra space available in the compartment, less no. of passengers using the toilets, the privacy provided by the curtains etc. When people travel for long duration such as this train which takes 24 hours to reach from Chennai to Bombay, they obviously would want to travel in better comfort for which they are paying a premium amount on the 2 tier A.C. berths.

The passengers who suffered thus should be refunded the difference in fares and compensated for the mental tension and trauma that was created due to this fracas by Indian Railways.