RS members to pay for unused rail bookings if no cancellation; multiple reservations cost 85 pc extra in Jan last

A former Rajya Sabha member made 63 train bookings costing over Rs 1.69 lakh in January last year but availed only seven, sources said, noting that the Rajya Sabha Secretariat has taken cognizance of such large-scale multiple bookings and members have been advised to ensure timely cancellation of bookings not to be availed, failing which recovery will be made.

Rajya Sabha secretariat is required to pay to the Railways for journeys not undertaken by members and former members.

The sources said that members of the upper house have been advised by Secretary-General Desh Deepak Verma through a bulletin on Thursday to ensure cancellation of bookings not availed, failing which recovery will be made for such bookings if they are not cancelled in time.

The sources said that the Rajya Sabha Secretariat has done an analysis of the number of bookings made and actual journeys undertaken by some sitting and former members of the upper house after Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu desired to know the extent of multiple bookings and its implications.

They said this revealed that the Rajya Sabha Secretariat is being asked by the Railways to "pay huge amounts" for journeys not performed by the sitting and former members due to such multiple bookings.

The sources said that a former member of Rajya Sabha made as many as 63 bookings of up to 4 per day on 23 days in January 2019 costing a total of Rs 1,69,005 and confirmed having travelled by train only on seven occasions for a total train fare of only Rs 22,085.

"This means that Rajya Sabha Secretariat has to pay an extra amount of Rs 1,46,920 which comes to about 87 per cent of the total amount claimed by the Railways on account of bookings made by the former member Rajya Sabha during the month of January 2019," a source said.

The sources said that in respect of a sitting member also, the analysis done by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat revealed that the actual journeys performed during January 2019 amounted to only 15 per cent of the total claim of railways.

It means the secretariat is required to pay 85 per cent extra for journeys not performed and the bookings not cancelled.

The sources said that for the calendar year 2019, the Railways have raised a demand for a payment of Rs 7.8 from Rajya Sabha Secretariat as one-third share of the total cost of train travel by the sitting and former members of Parliament, their spouses and compons. The remaining t two-third of the total cost is to be paid by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

Members of Rajya Sabha are being advised for some years to avoid multiple train bookings and to cancel the unused bookings.

The sources said Rajya Sabha Secretariat has been taking up the matter with the Railways over the last couple of years due to audit objections regarding such multiple bookings, the cost-sharing formula and directions of the Central Information Commission to recast the process of train bookings.

They said the Railways have agreed to change the software for train bookings by the members of Parliament to enable identification of bookings by members of both the houses separately.

This new software is likely to be operationalised soon, they added.

( With inputs from ANI )