Local rly officials shell out 1.5cr in cancellation fee refunds

Ludhiana: Since Northern Railway relaxed refunding rules for passengers, local railway authorities have shelled out over Rs 1.5 crore to passengers who opted out of train journey as a precautionary measure against Covid-19.
Large number of passengers had cancelled their train tickets in March with the outbreak of Covid-19 gaining momentum. Originally, the railways had deducted charges as per regulations on cancelled tickets.Now, more than 10,000 local passengers reached the reservation counter of the city railway station in the last 10 days to get back their refund amount on cancelled train tickets.
The railway had recently declared that it will not deduct any money on cancelled train tickets of the last two months, following the suspension of rail service.
Official sources in the railway department said, “This relaxed refunding system will be helpful for all those passengers whose ticket fare was partly deducted as service charges after they had cancelled their ticket in March following the rising number of Covid-19 cases. But on March 22, Indian Railway had suspended its all service following the imposition of lockdown.”
According to sources, all those who cancelled tickets in March are eligible to get a refund, they have to fill a simple form and submit it to the railways.
Ludhiana railway station director Tarun Kumar said, “Relaxed funding rule is for passengers who had cancelled their journey in March and had to pay cancellation charges. Now, they can get it refunded by just submitting their cancelled ticket within 45 days from the date of journey.”
TOI spoke to Gaurav Singla who was waiting to cancel his ticket at the station reservation counter, “For the last few days, there is huge crowd outside reservation counter of the city station. Situation is such that even small help like refunding of cancellation charges matters a lot to people now. This will bring some relief to middle class passengers who are struggling with financial management as many are losing their jobs or facing salary cuts. I have also decided to cancel my train ticket after I heard the news of several confirmed patients travelling in trains. It’s too risky now.”