Title - Northeast Frontier Railway officials at odds over shifting of ticket counters

GUWAHATI: Differences in opinion among senior officials of the Northeast Frontier Railway came to the fore over shifting of 10 unreserved ticketing system (UTS) counters from inside the Guwahati railway station to outside the building.

The divisional railway manager (DRM) of Lumding division, R K Goel, under whose jurisdiction the Guwahati railway station falls, is in favour of shifting the UTS ticket counters to the place where the passenger reservation system (PRS) counters are located, 50 metres away from the station, in order to provide more passenger amenities in the space where these counters are now located.

But, some senior officials are of the opinion that the move will make crowd management difficult on the station premises, which sees thousands of passengers depart and arrive every day.

In a recent letter to the DRM, the chief commercial manager of NF Railway wrote that his proposal of shifting the UTS counters from inside the station building to outside where the PRS counters are located is inappropriate.

"Passengers without reservations prefer to purchase tickets after ascertaining the availability and running schedule of the trains through the enquiry counter. The present arrangement enables the general public, including ladies, to purchase unreserved tickets on the station premises without going to any isolated area, particularly at night," said the chief commercial manager in his letter.

The manager also wrote that the proposed shift of the counters would be inconvenient for passengers who get off at the station from one train and buy tickets to catch another train to reach their desired destinations.

"The operation of reserved and unreserved ticket counters in one row will confuse many passengers," the letter said. The manager noted that in major cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Patna, the PRS counters are kept separate from UTS counters for better crowd management.

However, the DRM informed that the shifting of the counters is underway. "We have planned to shift out the UTS ticket counters from the station building to provide passenger amenities like ATMs, internet cafe etc for the passengers in that space," Goel said.

A senior official of NF Railway said 13,000 to 14,000 tickets are issued to passengers from the UTS counters every day.