Railways accountable for safe journey of passengers: Forum

NEW DELHI: A consumer forum has asked the government to pay compensation to a man who lost his bag during a journey last year while observing that "ticket fare paid to the railways makes it accountable for safe and complete journey of the passengers".

New Delhi District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, presided by C K Chaturvedi, asked the Ministry of Railways to pay Rs 5,000 to Gurgaon resident Shailendra Jain, saying, "This is a common problem faced by numerous passengers and railways cannot absolve itself of its own liability by shifting blame" on others.

"Brief perusal of records clearly establishes the factum of theft by FIR lodged on same day in Nagpur. Coach attendant, conductor, GRP personnel were all found missing or sleeping, which resulted in theft of luggage of the passenger.

"This is a common problem faced by numerous passengers and the railways cannot absolve itself of its own liability by shifting the blame on different departments and state police. The ticket fare paid to the railways, make its accountable for safe and complete journey of passengers from point of boarding to point of embarking," the forum said.

It said that "such incidents in running train tantamount to imperfection in services" and awarded Rs 5,000 to Jain as compensation for harassment and mental agony and litigation expenses.

Jain had told the forum that his bag containing valuables got stolen while travelling from New Delhi to Nagpur in Arunchal Pradesh Express on January 16, 2013.

When approached, he found coach attendant sleeping while the conductor and GRP personnel were untraceable. Thereafter, he filed an FIR in Nagpur, he said.

The railways had, however, taken a technical plea of territorial jurisdiction of Mumbai, Secunderabad, Allahabad Railway departments and the state police of being responsible for the security of passengers and their luggage.