TIRUPATI: Even after seizing parcels of ganja and red sanders, smuggling through the Railway Parcel Service from Tirupati railway station, no concrete measures have been initiated to curb it. The entire business community in Tirumala and Tirupati depends on the railways for their daily stocks from Mumbai, Chennai and other places in the country through Railway Parcel Service.
Toys, hats, apparel accessories, vanity bags, cosmetics, wood carvings, idols, portraits, frames from Srinivasapuram, other products from Assam, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Rajasthan and other places and even items from China reach Tirupati through the Railway Parcel Service.
Touts in command
There is no effective mechanism in the luggage transportation system at the railway station. Even now, touts or unauthorised persons manage the entire package, loading and unloading from each and every train. Tirupati parcel office gets huge volume of parcels in transit to different parts of the country and has become vulnerable as it has no proper security check.
The baggage or parcel that is booked or in transit from here is not checked properly by the staff concerned, leaving the responsibility on private agents or touts. Whenever someone approaches the office to dispatch a parcel, the booking clerks do some receipt work and collect the charges. After booking, the private agents or touts take care of the parcels and load them on to the trains.