About 94 per cent of the rail commuters want the Indian Railways to refund 50 per cent on Tatkal tickets cancelled six hours before the departure of the train, a survey conducted by social engagement platform Local Circles said on Saturday.
According to the survey, which was conducted few months in relation to the amendment to the Packaged Commodity Rules 2017, which came in force on January 1.
The survey consisted of two polls and received more than 65,000 votes, it said.
The survey claimed out of the 20,601 passengers, 94 per cent passengers feel that railways should refund 50 per cent of the Tatkal ticket cancellation amount if done six hours before the journey.
"Out of the 7,873 votes, 61 per cent citizens want the flexi fare to continue but also want lower fares when trains are empty while 29 per cent people want flexi fare to be abolished and base fare increased," the survey said.
It also said that about eight per cent voters want the flexi fare to continue and two per cent were unsure about it.
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Railways introduced flexi-fare for premier trains - Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi on September 9, 2016. Under this, the base fare increases by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold, subject to a prescribed limit. There was no change in the existing fare for 1AC and EC class of travel.
But on December 19, 2016, Railways started to provide 10 per cent rebate on any seat left vacant after the preparation of the chart.
The survey also said that out of 7,076 votes 44 per cent of passengers want safety in the trains to be improved while 26 per cent people want the national transporter should improve the services and amenities in its trains. Total votes for the
The survey also said that 15 per cent citizens want the railways to improve cleaniness and timeliness of the trains respectively.
Asked about the improvement in safety, out of 10,866 votes polled, 43 per cent people feel that that there has been a marginal improvement in safety and security in Indian Railways in the last three years.
"While 34 per cent people feel that there have been no improvement and 10 per cent said that it was worse.
The survey also claimed that about 13 per cent people feel that the improvement has been sizable.
Out of the 9,418 votes, 39 per cent people feel that the emergency or VIP quota of 60,00 seats per day be removed whereas 14 per cent said it should be reduced to 30,000 seats a day and 34 per cent said that it should be reduced to 15,000 seats a day.
"About 13 per cent of the 9,410 voters want that it should be left as it is," it said.
Last year, the government brought an end to the 125-year old of
Rail Budget was merged with the main Budget last year and this year again it will be unveiled by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament on February 1.
--IANS
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