2 days ago
‘Lack of announcements a deficiency in service': Railways told to pay Rs 7,000 to family that missed train
Ghaziabad: The district consumer forum has ruled that failure to provide proper information on train schedule through public announcements constitutes a "deficiency of service" under the Consumer Protection Act.
The consumer commission made this observation while ordering the Ghaziabad railway station authorities and senior officials at Northern Railways to pay Rs 7,000 as compensation to a family that missed their train due to inadequate announcements.
On Feb 29 last year, Muradnagar resident Anubhav Prajapati, along with his wife Priyanka and two children, missed the Chhattisgarh Express to Jhansi. The family had arrived at Ghaziabad railway station well before the train's scheduled departure at 3.20am and waited in the first-class lounge.
After an announcement about a 40-minute delay, they moved to platform 3 at 3.25am. However, they found Ayodhya Express stationed there for over 45 minutes. As the clock ticked, there was no further announcement about their train.
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"I tried to approach the station master, but his room was locked," Prajapati told the forum. He even tweeted about the situation at 5.21am, tagging railway authorities, but received no response.
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Around 6am, he came to know that as they waited on platform 3, the Chhattisgarh Express departed from platform number 2.
Railway authorities, who failed to furnish a written explanation, made an oral representation at the forum through their counsel. They argued that they could have allowed a ticket refund, but could not as the train wasn't running more than three hours behind schedule — a prerequisite for refunds under railway policy.
The commission agreed while refund couldn't be granted on technical grounds, the railway's failure to make proper announcements to inform the family about the arrival of the train and its departure warranted compensation.
"Since no evidence on the part of the railways has been presented on record to claim that there was a proper announcement, the commission treats this as a deficiency of service that resulted in missing the train and caused mental harassment to the passenger," the June 23 order stated.
The commission asked the station superintendent, station master, divisional railway manager, and general manager of Northern Railway to pay the compensation within 45 days of the order.
