“Non-entitled Government servants travelling by air on LTC and claiming entitled rail fare, the condition of booking the air tickets through authorised travel agents viz. ‘M/s Balmer Lawrie & Company’, ‘M/s Ashok Travels & Tours’ and ‘IRCTC’ may not be insisted upon”

No.31011/5/2014-Estt (A.IV)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
Department of Personnel and Training
Establishment A-IV Desk

North Block, New Delhi-110 001
Dated: August 21, 2017

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject:- Procedure for booking of air-tickets on LTC – clarification reg.

The undersigned is directed to refer to this Department’s O.M. of even no. dated 23.09.2015 on the subject noted above and to say that as per the extant instructions, whenever a Government servant claims LTC by air, he/she is required to book the air tickets directly from the airlines (Booking counters, website of airlines) or by utilizing the services of the authorized travel agents viz. ‘M/s Balmer Lawrie & Company’, ‘M/s Ashok Travels & Tours’ and ‘IRCTC’ (to the extent IRCTC is authorized as per DoPT O.M. No. 31011/6/2002-Est(A) dated 02.12.2009) while undertaking LTC journey(s).

2. In this regard, references are received in this Department seeking clarification whether the aforesaid condition of booking the tickets through authorized travel agents needs to be followed in cases where a non-entitled Government servant travels by air on LTC and claims the entitled train fare.

3. The matter has been examined in consultation with Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance and it is hereby clarified that in case of non-entitled Government servants travelling by air on LTC and claiming entitled rail fare, the condition of booking the air tickets through authorised travel agents viz. ‘M/s Balmer Lawrie & Company’, ‘M/s Ashok Travels & Tours’ and ‘IRCTC’ may not be insisted upon. In rest of the cases, the condition of booking the tickets through authorised modes shall continue to follow.

Enclosure: As above

sd/-
(Surya Narayan Jha)
Under Secretary to the Government of India

Click to view the order

Authority: www.dopt.gov.in

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• Rail Budget Seeks Course Correction, Avoids Populism
• No Increase in Rail Fare
• Stress on Resource Mobilization Through PSU Surplus, FDI and PPP
• Bullet Train on Ahmedabad-Mumbai Corridor Proposed, Speed of Trains to be Increased in Nine Sectors
• More Thrust on Passenger Amenities, Cleanliness & Efficient Station Management
• Multi Pronged Approach for Improving Safety & Security, 4000 Women RPF Constables to be Recruited
• Revamping Railway Reservation System into Next Generation e-Ticketing, WI-FI Services in Major Stations & in Select Trains, Mobile based Wakeup Calls for Passengers
• 58 New Trains Introduced; 11 Existing Trains Extended
• Railway University and Innovation Incubation Centre to be Set UP
• Top Priority to Transparency, e-procurement to be made
• Compulsory in Higher Purchase, Online Registration for Wagons in Next Two Months
• Highest Ever Plan Outlay of Rs. 65,445 Crore with Higher Allocation for Safety Measures

Increased passenger amenities, more safety measures, timely completion of projects and increased financial discipline are the main highlights of the Railway Budget 2014-15 presented by the Minister of Railways Shri D. V. Sadananda Gowda in Parliament today.

The Budget seeks course correction in the light of mismanagement, apathy, populism in starting projects and severe fund crunch that have inflicted the railways over the years, the Minister averred. For this, structural reforms will be introduced and resources will be mobilized through PSU surplus, FDI and PPP.

The Budget proposes multi-pronged approach to make Railway journey safe and secure and comfortable for passengers. More thrust has been placed on passenger amenities, cleanliness and efficient station management. Now all major stations will have foot-over bridges, escalators, lifts etc.

On safety and security, the Budget has proposed introduction of advance technology for rail-flaw detection to check causes of accidents, a significant amount has been kept for road-over and road-under bridges and a pilot project will be launched on automatic door closing in mainline and sub-urban coaches. In order to make women safer while travelling, the Railway will recruit 4000 women constables. Coaches for ladies will be escorted.

IT initiatives get a big boost in the Budget. Revamping Railway Reservation System into Next Generation e-Ticketing will be taken up with provision of platform tickets and unreserved tickets also over internet. The Railway has proposed real-time tracking of trains and rolling stocks, mobile based Wakeup Call System for passengers, mobile based destination arrival alert and Wi-fi Services in A-1 and A category stations and in select trains. Indian Railways has also planned paperless offices in 5 years.

In order to make Railway management more efficient, Budget has proposed setting up of Railway University for training in both technical and non-technical subjects besides establishing Innovations and Incubation Centre to harness the ideas generated from staff.

In a bid to modernise Indian Railway network, Bullet train has been proposed on Mumbai-Ahmadabad sector besides increasing speed of trains to 160-200 kmph in select 9 sectors. The Railway has also planned setting up of Diamond Quadrilateral Network of High Speed Rail connecting major metros and growth centers of the country. Identified stations will be developed to international standards with modern facilities on lines of newly developed airports through PPP mode. Railway has also proposed harnessing solar energy by utilizing roof top spaces of stations, railway buildings and land.

To augment resources of Railways, the Budget has proposed schemes to facilitate procurement of parcel vans and rakes by private parties, special milk tanker trains, increased movement of fruits and vegetables in partnership with Warehousing Corporation and setting up Private Freight Terminals on PPP model.

The Railway has proposed to bring in more transparency in administration and execution of projects. The status of ongoing projects will be available online, E-procurement will be made compulsory for procurement of higher amount and online registration of demands for wagons will be introduced within next two months.

The Budget has passenger centric focus on suburban and metropolitan rail services. 864 additional state-of-the-art EMUs will be introduced in Mumbai in two years. Study to explore possibility of enhancing existing railway network for better connectivity needs of Bangaluru will be taken up.

The Railway Budget 2014-15 has proposed 58 new trains besides extending 11 existing trains. Provision has been made for 28 surveys for new lines and doubling or gauge conversion of lines. Higher funds have been proposed for ongoing projects in Northeast and remote areas. Special packaged trains on identified pilgrim circuits, two tourist trains and a special train featuring life and work of Swami Vivekananda has been proposed in the Budget.

According to the Budget estimates, the Railways will earn  1,64,374 crore through various resources and will spend  1,49,176 crore during 2014-15. The operating ratio is expected to be 92.5% which is 1% better than that in 2013-14.

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Government of India
Ministry of Railways

24-June-2014 21:24 IST

Ministry of Railway modifies the passenger fare revision circular in connection with Monthly Season Tickets (MST) and second class suburban fare

The circular for revision of passenger fares issued by Ministry of Railways that was to come into effect from 25.6.2014 had among other things made a change in the way the fare for monthly season tickets (MSTs) was to be calculated. In the existing system, the MST is 17-15 times the value of a single journey ticket for the same distance slab whereas the circular indicated that MSR fare would be now equivalent to 30 single journey fare for the same distance slab. Inclusive of the 10% fare hike and 4.2% FAC, the new MST fares ranged 1.7 times to 3.5 times of the old MST fare. Despite the fact that MSTs are highly subsidized, Ministry of Railway has now decided to modify the fair revision circular and hence a decision has been taken to increase the cost of existing MST fare by only 14.2% inclusive of FAC, i.e., the Monthly Season Tickets for both suburban and non-suburban shall now be charged at 14.2% over the existing rates rounded off as per extant instructions.

Further in the second class ordinary suburban single journey fares, it was noticed that upto a distance of 80 kms, there was increase in 3 of the slabs only and because of rounding off, the increase was coming to more than 14.2%. A view was therefore taken to avoid any hike in fares upto a distance of 80 kms. Thus there is no change in fare for second class suburban travelers for a distance upto 80 kms.

In view of the above modifications, the revised fares in the unreserved segment shall come into force from 28.6.2014. However, for reserved segment, the revised fares shall come into effect from 25.6.2014 as notified earlier.

A table depicting the above changes is enclosed.

Click here to see Table 1: Click here to see Table 2: Click here to see Table 3

Source: PIB

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