Kochi: Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday sought immediate intervention of Railway Minister Piyush Goyal while terming the denial of refunds by the Railways to passengers who availed online reservations but could not travel due to cancellation of their trains during flood days as a “cruel joke”.
“Denial of refunds by the Indian Railways to passengers unable to travel because of the floods is a cruel joke on the public. Trust Piyush Goyal will overrule this mindless decision by the mean-spirited officials,” the Congress leader said in his Twitter post.
The reaction comes days after Deccan Chronicle on September 5 highlighted how many passengers ‘lost’ their money after the Railways failed to provide automatic refund to passengers for cancelled trains during flood-affected days, from August 15 to 21.
The Railways, though, made it clear the refund would be allocated only if the customer cancels his ticket on the day of travel itself. “Given the emergency scenario, we’ve extended the deadline to August 29 for cancelling the reserved tickets in cancelled trains with the date of travel from August 17 to 21,” a senior official said.
However, many of the travelers were in dark regarding the provision. Some even didn’t have the option to cancel their tickets as the trains were cancelled after chart preparation. The IRCTC website offers no option for cancellation in such cases.
“I’ve booked a ticket to travel from Ernakulam Town to Thalassery in Cannanore Express scheduled on August 20. However, when I reached the railway station, I was told the train was cancelled after preparation of the chart due to the flood situation,” said Mohanan Mangathusseril, a native of Chitoor in Ernakulam. His ticket ID was 1465573 and the PNR number 4448372068.
When he lodged a complaint with the IRCTC, he got a reply that the train “operated” on the day, however, official sources confirmed Train No 16307 got cancelled at the last minute on August 20.
