Extra coach added for HRD minister’s staff against rules: panel

It was meant allegedly to accommodate Javadekar’s private secretary and family

Passengers boarding train at the New Delhi Railway Station. Northern Railway's Internet ticket and delivery service www.irctc.co.in has seen 2,000 per cent growth, making it one of the `biggest e-commerce sites in Asia'. The site is to celebrate its first birthday on August 3, 2003. Photo: S. Subramanium.

An internal inquiry by the Railway Board has found that due procedures were not followed while attaching an extra coach to Padmavat Express in which Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar’s private secretary was travelling with his family on a personal trip last week.

The Railway Board constituted the inquiry on Sunday after a news report alleged that one coach was attached to Padmavat Express on the request of Vinay Srivastava, the HRD Minister’s private secretary and a 1992-batch Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers official. Mr. Srivastava was travelling with his wife and children from Lucknow to Delhi on the train on Saturday.

“The inquiry findings show that a coach was attached in the last few minutes before the train’s departure and after the preparation of the reservation chart. This should have happened before the chart was prepared,” said a senior Railway Ministry official, on the condition of anonymity.

Mr. Srivastava and the Northern Railway division had denied the allegations.

Executive Director (Works) S.C. Jain conducted the inquiry. The probe report countered the Railway’s claim that the extra coach was for those passengers unable to get a confirmed ticket due to the festival rush.

“The inquiry substantiated that 20 passengers travelled on the additional coach with a capacity of 30 passengers,” the Ministry official said. The extra coach had a combination of AC first class and AC 2-tier sleeper seats. The Railway Board has advised the Lucknow division of the Northern Railways to follow due procedures while attaching additional coach on trains.

The Railway Board has sent the inquiry report to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal for further action, another Railway Ministry official said.

Northern Railway Spokesperson Neeraj Sharma said that he is unaware of the findings of the inquiry report. He added that the additional coach was supposed to be deployed to Delhi for clearing the festive rush operating out of Delhi and the Railways decided to sell tickets to carry passengers from Lucknow.