NEW DELHI: At a time when the Modi-led government has to face an onslaught from Opposition on unemployment issues, the railway has decided to engage unemployed youths as ‘Station Ticket Booking Sewaks’(STBs) initially for the ‘E’ category of stations, located in non-suburban areas.
This is being done with an aim to provide earning opportunities to unemployed youths, who are above 18 years of age and facilitate the station managers and their juniors to concentrate better on train operations instead of being engaged in ticket sales.
The railway has started appointing the STBSs at many non-suburban E-category stations under the Gorakhpur division of North Eastern Railway in UP as a pilot basis for one year.
According to official sources, an STBS will be selected after proper scrutiny of their application at the divisional level.
The railway division will provide space, power connection and other basic necessities to STBSs.
The railways operate with 13,169 passenger trains and 8,479 freight trains plying 23 million passengers But the selected STBS will have to deposit money depending on the category of concerned railway station for which appointment is made to sell the unreserved and platform tickets.
The STBS will not only sell unreserved tickets for train journeys but also the platform and seasonal monthly tickets to the people on fixed amounts of commission from the railway on the total sale of tickets.
In the latest decision, the railway has added that the appointment of STBKs would be made at those stations also where the provision of UTS-cum-PRS facility has also been made.
“At such stations, they will be selling unreserved and platform tickets on a commission basis”, said a senior railway official.
The Rail Saga
There are 4,158 ‘E’ category stations in the country out of a total number of 7,349 railway stations.
The railways operate with 13,169 passenger trains and 8,479 freight trains plying 23 million passengers.
The railways transport more than 3 million tonnes of freight every day on 68,443 km of railway tracks.