“I can’t take you in. Actually rickshaws aren’t
permitted inside,” cried the driver of the tricycle that was carrying me and
the tightly tied up cardboard box to New Delhi Railway station’s Parcel Booking
Office. It was my sister’s idea to book the biggest package separately as a
parcel on the same train that she is travelling on. I found it ironical that a
parcel office doesn’t have carriage trolleys for people to push their packages
to the building from the gate, and vehicles (like the tricycle that I hired)
aren’t permitted to enter the campus. How am I supposed to present a 35-kilo
heavy cardboard box from the office gate to the booking centre a 100 metres
away? Surprising.
My brother-in
law came to my rescue and together we lifted the box to the booking centre,
surpassing the calls of middlemen/agents/touts that swarm every government
(especially the Railways) office. Three Hours, two middlemen and numerous babus
(clerks) later, the work is done and we all go home. So what’s about the
situation? Everything.
India is a
populous country, and most of us at some point of our lives board the train to
travel long distances. Since we have a large migrant population (within
ourselves, living in states/cities outside our natural places of birth or
residence) using the services of Indian Railways, the market size is enormous.
Add to it the culture of carrying a heap of baggage around, I should say the
Indian Railways are sitting on a goldmine of potential business if handled
properly. Through numerous Railway Budgets, we see how many new trains are on
the go, how expensive the on-bard beverages and food is going to be, etc. But
the average customer is not aware about any government effort to make the parcel
van services being more supportive or user-friendly. I would be happier to send my luggage through
parcel booking services during my train travels if the government shall assure
the following:
(a) User-friendly office premises and staff
I don’t want to manually lift up a 45-kilo box and walk a 100 meters
to get it booked. Also I prefer talking to one or two clerks who actually knows
something about the parcels and the possible trains. (They need to have some
basic geographic knowledge since they are working with the national carrier.)
(b) A genuine online booking/tracking facility
The present website for Indian Railways parcel tracking just
mentioned the whereabouts of the booking. It didn’t mention which route the
packet follows, which day the packet is loaded on the train, and which station
did it finally reach.
(c) A prompt complaint/grievance redressal and enquiry counter
When my sister complained that her package didn’t reach the
destination I had to go to the parcel booking office again, to make sure if the package is still left behind in New Delhi railway station unattended. I had to talk to seven different people to get
the assurance that my package has already been sent. I wondered if they have
any proper enquiry counter (just like it works with a bank or a telecom office)
where you walk in provide the details, and the official confirms the delivery
with the necessary inputs.
Image courtesy : Bloggers.com
