LAHORE: Pakistan Railways (PR) is not implementing its own policy on refund of tickets and making unjustifiable deduction during the procedure.

The refund policy was revised in August 2011 while partially modifying Rule 2.18 for PR Coaching Traffic No 4, a senior railways officer at its headquarters in Lahore told Dawn on Sunday.

The then chief commercial manager (CCM) of railways had sought suggestions from the commercial staff of all the seven operational divisions of the organisation regarding simplification of ticket refund procedure.

Passengers are asked to apply for refund

The staff concerned proposed that the amount of unused reserved tickets might be refunded to commuters at stations after making prescribed deduction and transaction settled with the ticket issuing location later on.

Through a letter (dated Aug 28, 2011), the then CCM allowed 90 per cent refund up to 48 hours before departure of train; 80pc refund between 24 to 48 hours before departure of train; 70pc within 24 hours before departure of train and up to 50pc refund in case the tickets are returned within three hours after departure of train.

Under the policy which was to take effect from Aug 25, 2011, a deduction of Rs10 -- `clerical’ charges of Rs5 and insurance charges of Rs5 -- was to be made in addition to the refund percentage and the remaining amount was to be refunded to the passenger.

However, passengers surrendering tickets within three hours after departure of train had not been getting refund of the ticket amount at stations.

“There had been instances that families coming from various faraway areas of Lahore got stuck up in traffic jams and missed the train. The families requested to be accommodated in the next train after payment of the difference of the amount left after deduction.

However, instead of facilitating, the passengers were directed to visit the office of divisional superintendent concerned during office hours and submit an application along with unused tickets for refund,” said the officer. The procedure at the divisional office has been quite cumbersome. An applicant would merely get a receipt of the application and asked to come after some two to three days.

“The application will be `processed.’ Over Charge Sheet certificate will be sought from ticket issuing location and on its receipt, the matter will be sent to a competent officer for sanction of the amount. After grant of sanction and if the refund amount is up to Rs2,000, a pay order will be sent at the postal address of the applicant. In case the amount exceeds Rs2,000, the matter will be forwarded to railways financial adviser and chief accountant (revenue) where the case will be scrutinised by one branch while the cheque will be issued by another… The applicant will be required to visit the FA&CA office in person to get the cheque,” said the officer.

Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2016