Trip to Kevadia & Surat

 

Day one of our Memorable Trip:

When Things have to go wrong, no matter whatever best planning efforts you have put in, Things will go wrong. Reverse too is true. When things have to go right , no matter how little or negligible planning efforts you have put in, Things will go right, 

Some thing like this happened in our case we 3 families, sans shri Deshmukh, met at Mrs. & Mr. Kotwal's house for a lunch at their behest, sorry it was more of a " kalkalichi vinanti - agrah ". I for one, being a foodie,  have never said No for a Lunch / Dinner. We all met and had a lovey Lunch which included fresh fish brought by Madhurata Tai. That was a heavenly treat. 

The Ladies started talking about Surat trip. Sunila Tai was the Leader. Meena & Madhurata Tai chipped in too.  Shri Kotwal & I acted as facilitators to help them with logistics. Soon we all agreed on Statue of  Unity ( S o U ) to be added to Surat. Meena talked to Neelima Tai & Neela Tai. They all agreed and the trip was finalized. The D Date  - 17th Jan was decided. Return was fixed on 21st. 

Initially we were to take our cars, which would have been a great fun and a mode of faster travel. However, the majority favored an 11 seater Traveler.  

Madhurata Tai organized the 11 seater. Shri Kotwal did the booking of SoU and Home Stays at Garudeshwar & Surat. All set and ready to go.  L O L, come Jan 17th,  Ganus reached the pick up point outside the Spires Apartments. Gundis too had arrived. Kotwals joined too and we were soon on the express highway. Our next pick up point was at Thane. 

We all Puneites were eagerly awaiting for our breakfast to be brought by Madhurata Tai. Finally the moment of truth dawned. Neela Tai & Deshmukhs joined us. Immediately Idlis & Chutney was served. we had a sumptuous breakfast. Music was put on. All the ladies started talking about Kalyan and they dug out childhood memories. Soon the Idlis had their effect on all. Music was put off,  Childhood memories deserted the ladies and all were soon fast asleep. 

Shri Kotwal is an expert at finding right places to stop for Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner & Tea. He goes in to minutest details like ambience, ratings, menu etc and gives all details in a shortest of time. We all relied on his inputs and followed his recommendations blindly. Very handy & trustworthy person, on such excursions, I must admit. 

We had our first big pitstop for Lunch at Bamboos ( I hope Meena's memory has served her right )  on the highway after Surat. Needless to say, thanks to shri Kotwal. The ambience was good, the quality of food was excellent. what more one can ask for? We started our onward journey after refueling our tanks. We then stooped only for our tea . coffee break.  

We reached Garudeshwar at bout 9 pm. talked to the attendant of the homestay and headed for Hotel Nirvan, ( near to our homestay ), for our Dinner. Its a lovely hotel. The ambience, food & service were all excellent. The icing on the cake was that  Neelima tai & Madhav, both got Baingan ( Brinjal ) which they both love in any form and taste.  A new revelation for us all. 

We reached our Home Stay at Number 153, The Ladies took charge and decided the sleeping arrangements for next 2 nights there. No arguments. Who could have dared? Gents followed the instructions like tired goats. 

That was day one of our Journey on Jan 17th.

More about our trip - shortly on Some Other Day

मौसम की पहली बारिश

अप्रेल के अंत में कर्णिकार ( बहावा ) के दरख्तों पर

सुनहरे फूलों की लडियां झूलने लगी,

और 1 - 2 महिनों में ही बारिश के आने के संकेत मिले.

बेताल टेकडी पर मोर, कोयल समर्थन में गाने लगे,

गर्मी भी अपने ऊफान पर थी, कहर बरपा रही थी !

मई के महिने ने दस्तक ही दी थी कि बजार में चहुं ओर आमों और कटहलों की महक फैल गई,

टपोरे टपोरे जामुन भी दिखने लगे गोया टोकरियों में बडे बडे काले मोती सजाए हो !

फिर आखिर बारिश आ ही गई !

इस बार ठान कर,  मैं भी 

अपनी बाहरी बूढापे की त्वचा लांघ कर 

मानो, मन से बच्चा बन गया !

सच ही उम्र सिर्फ अंक है, 

मानो तो बुजुर्ग हो, मगर ठान लो तो....

बहरहाल मैं ठान कर बच्चा बना,

पोते — पोती के साथ जमकर 

पहली फुहार में भीगा, मस्ती में उनके साथ नाचा.

अफसोस हुआ जब

हफ्ते — दस दिन रही बारिश, 

और फिर गुम हो गई 

पर  इतने ही दिनों में

धरा हरी भरी, नई नवेली दुल्हन जैसी सज गई

बारिश रूपी प्रितम की बाट जोती.

और, उसके इंतजार में सजी ही रही !!

Vaccination Drive

 It is really commendable to have achieved an average of above 65 L Covid Vaccination over last one week. We have vaccinated about 32 Crore people, some of these having taken the first shot and some having taken the second shot. However, we have a lot of ground to cover still. I propose following measures to accelerate the drive to cross 1 crore shots per day to complete remaining 90 crore plus population with both shots:

Involve Corporates to cover others too, besides their employees and their families, business partners, Contractors - Sub Contractors, common citizens around their factories in different locations etc with their families above the age of 18. Motivate them to use Mobile Vans to conduct Vaccination Camps in near by villages. Give them the benefits and consider the expenses borne under the drive under CSR ( Corporate Social Responsibility ). 

           Government should Engage NGOs in health care field , engage           Mobile vans and hand these over to them to cover interiors,                villages etc.

            Engage Junior Colleges / Large Educational Institutions in this         drive. They should ask students to bring their parents and                    neighbors and their families who have not taken the shots.

        Engage District / Jillah level schools to organize similar camps         in their localities.

Government should supply them vaccines. The State Governments should be asked to  engage retired Doctors & Nurses, Pvt Doctors, MBBS interns, and Nursing staff to all who need such help and coordinate all these activities. 

The basic idea is to reach maximum numbers in shortest possible time. The effort should be to reach the citizen in his locality / house.

Government should also ask large PSUs, Railways, Airlines, Roadways, Military and Paramilitary Staffs to take up the vaccination drive. If they can be utilized in times of emergencies like floods / earthquakes etc, why not in vaccination drive too. This too is an emergency.

The online registration process too needs improvement. There should be a provision for registering the applicant's name only once. He / She should not be required to log in every day to check availability. The system should allocate the hospital / center near the residence, based on the inputs provided by the applicant. He / She should get a system generated message. 

The Last point I would like to mention is about ramping up vaccine manufacturing units & capacities. It is good to know that few more suppliers like Biological E Ltd, Zydus Cadilla etc will start suppying vaccines very soon. Bharat Biotec is in the process of augmenting capacity, but Government should assess the supply and demand situation in coming months and take adequate steps to import vaccines in time, if required.

नई शुरुवात

 

19 मई , 2021

चार साल पहले कुछ बतियाने की, कुछ कहने की इच्छा ही खत्म हो गई थी . आज मेरी दो बहनों, सुलभा और विजया के आग्रह पर अब फिर लिखने की ठानी है. श्री धरमवीर भारती से मैं जवानी में काफी प्रभावित रहा हूं. वह , निराला, मुंशी प्रेमचंद, सुमित्रा नंदन पंत, नीरज , हरिवंश राय बच्चन, काकाहाथरसी, बालकवि बैरागी, दुष्यंतकुमार , अशोक चक्रधर आदि  कई हिंदी साहित्य  दीप स्थंब मेरे प्रेरणा के स्तोत्र रहे हैं. 

भारती जी के " बिंदु बिंदु विचार " की तर्ज  पर मैं इसी शिर्षक का प्रयोग कर अपने विचार , कुछ भूली बिसरी यादें आप सब के समक्ष रखूंगा.

आशा हे आप को भी आनंद मिलेगा

H2) stay - Part II

We got up fresh in the morning. It had rained heavily during the night. It was drizzling in the morning too. We thought we would be stuck up in the place for the whole day. We were still very happy to spend time relaxing and watching rains in such a lovely surrounding. The home stay is an understatement for such a lovely place, surrounded by hills greenery and a river tributary flowing underneath our abode. It is a perfect getaway place, pristine and peaceful. A great resort like property sans the artificiality of swimming pool, a badminton court etc and off course the maddening crowd normally found otherwise in resorts near big cities. The roaring sound of the water falling in the small pond beneath our sit out area and then flowing down to join the main river was a great sight. It’s unspoiled by garbage, littered plastic and sea of human being generally seen in resorts elsewhere.

The Roaring sound was a bit too harsh on ears, however, the sound of water would be very musical & gentle when the rainwater does not gush down from the hills. That would make the place very romantic, I feel. The river nearby is a perfect place for outing, taking bath and having snacks served there. Instead, we had hot pakodas & tea because of the drizzle, and then went out for a little walk around the place, we were lucky as the rains stopped at about 10.30 AM. We decided to visit Khajjiar, the so called mini Switzerland of India and Dayan Kund. Khajjiar is a lovely little picnic spot thronged by tourists. It’s a good spot for taking selfies and photos. We had lunch in Patil’s Restaurant there.

We then proceeded to Dayan Kund. It’s a lovely spot, though we have to walk up the hill for about half an hour to reach a pagoda and then go to the Kund. We decided to walk down to the base as we did not have enough time. I personally liked this spot much more than Khajjiar, because of lovely 350 degree view of the valley & mountain ranges.

We had sumptuous tasty dinner in the night. Next day we visited the Church at Dalhousie had tea break and proceeded to Mandi for our night halt there. Dalhousie is highly commercialized now. In hindsight we all felt that H₂O was a great selection. In fact it should not be called a home stay, but a homely stay resort. The ever polite and gentle Sunny, the attendant deserves special Compliments. And yes, how could I forget Anvaya? She had put lot of efforts and done great homework for selection of stay and sightseeing and it reflected in the results thus far. Special thanks to her for this lovely selection. We felt reassured about arrangements & stay other locations too. For sure, she deserves to be recognized in a special thanks giving ceremony, in a post trip meeting in Mumbai. She is bestowed with such great organizational talents, so she should only take the lead and coordinate with all for a high tea at Pathak’s house only, ha ha, ha… As it is, the Phataks have been complaining that we Ganus do not visit them. Ganus say " May God give us wisdom to say Yes. And hold your breath !! God said Tathastu ". Now its left to Anvaya.

H2O stay ( June 18 – 19 ) at Chaminoo - Part I

We stopped over at a nice joint for our tea break after leaving Pathankot, on the way to Dalhousie. We headed for Dalhousie after the good afternoon siesta we had till we reached this joint and with fresh energy. I had heard a lot about Dalhousie, but we were not to stay there but in a remotely unheard of place in the Chamba Valley. Luckily all of us shy away from the maddening crowds of cities and hill stations. So the selection of the place was a conscious choice, no doubt, but I for one never imagined it would be so far away from Dalhousie. We were told not to take Dalhousie road, but head for Sultanpur after Banikhet. So far so good till we reached Banikhet. We thought now our place is only a stone throw distance away because Dalhousie was only 8 KM away from Banikhet. Hence I thought our destination would be almost same distance from this junction, but on a road bypassing Dalhousie. That’s the way normally it is to avoid traffic and crowd in cities and such big towns. Hence this was a safe bet to avoid the maddening crowds, & still near the big town, I thought. How very grossly mistaken I was?

We stopped over at a Point to take pictures of Chamera Lake & the dam. 

Then we drove for eternity. It almost took about 1 ½ hours to reach Sultanpur – Sarol bypass Junction. It was almost pitch dark by then. We were tired & exhausted. Anvaya was in constant touch with the manager Vicky of the resort. Every time our driver got confused, he either stopped over to seek guidance from some persons / vehicle found on the lonely road at that hour or Anvaya contacted Vicky and handed over the phone to the driver to get directions. We were getting restless and exasperated by minute as we were so near but still so far. Vicky’s remarks that everyone else reaches the spot with the help of Google map without any difficulty added fuel to our frustrations. Finally the driver gave up and told us to call him or his person. Probably the night factor was a big hurdle. I wondered then that like Columbus, sailing Westward got to a destination, albeit wrong, as he wanted to reach Indies ( Asia ), we too might finally reach somewhere else, like the explorer. That would have been the biggest tragedy. Fortunately for us the two people came on a scooter and took us to our destination. I feel the owner of H₂O should think of Putting Fluorescent Signboards from the Sultanpur – Sarol Bypass Road at each Y – T – or square Junction on the road, till the last point. It is Convenience at negligible cost.

We were escorted to the resort in dim torch lights. Our baggage followed. Anvaya had intelligently foreseen the problems much in advance and had asked Vicky if our dinner could be arranged by him. We freshened up and relaxed. The dinner was ready. The Dining place was lovely. The hot fulkas, rice and vegetables & curry tasted great, not just because we were hungry but because of the preparation and also the ambiance.

We could not figure out what the surroundings looked like as it was really dark. We just wanted to retire ASAP. We did that and left everything else for the morrow. 

Amritsar Part II

First thing First, that is the bag story. 

We contacted Mittals after coming out from Wagha Border. They were already in the queue in the Golden Temple. Mr. Nittal suggested morning hours on the next  day. I contacted him again in the morning. He informed that his taxi was expected any time and he would come to our hotel on the way to Khajiar.  Finally we met in the lobby and exchanged our bags. Coincidentally we met again at Khajiar too.  

The Mittals & the Kid

Now coming back to my observation& suggestion on the management of system at wagha border, here it goes:.

An observation & Suggestions ( Being a consultant, recommendations are in my blood and these flow out easily, You Know ):

Frankly speaking I feel its sheer waste of 4 – 5 hours. I would love to see the same on the TV.

There is a complete mismanagement. I am told that People stand in queues right from 1 O’clock for a show starting at 6.30 or 7 PM during summer. People have to spend minimum 3 hours on weekends & holidays after getting inside, before the show really start.

I believe it’s a BSF show. They can very well paint Row & Seat numbers on all steps at
a distance of about 2 ½ feet from each other. Then they can put say Rs.5 for children below

12 & 20 for other locals. The tourists can be charged even Rs. 50 each, but given 

assured seats on any of the two sides of the stadium like facility there. Foreigners could be 

charged USD 10 or 2 Euros. The Tickets for tourists should be sold on line too. This will then 

avoid unnecessary frustration of missing out and also of sheer wastage of time. VIP Lounge 

could also be sold on line at Rs 100 per head for adults and Rs. 20 for children below 18.

Say 80 % of the seats ( in General & VIP Category ) for tourists should be sold on line. These should be sold max 2 month in advance. All Sold out indications could be displayed so that they could plan visit there on alternate day.

This money can then be utilized for improving the infrastructure there or for making some BSF owned restaurant there given on yearly contracts, which could again generate revenue for them.

The revenue can also be spent on the welfare of the jawans subsequently.

The situation was no better at the Golden Temple too. It appeared as if whole of Punjab if not India was there within the premises of the temple, and that too at about 9 PM in the night. I could see only heads in the queues for the Mathha Tek ( offering Prayers ), so much was the crowd. A volunteer told us that it could take 3 to 4 hours to be inside the sacred place. We wisely decided to opt out and wanted to see if we could easily get to have the dinner in the lunger as a Prasad. We faced similar unprecedented crowd there. We said  “better luck next time “, came out at about 10.30 PM and dinner outside in a near by dhabha.

Next day, we first went to the Jalianwala Bag and then again to the Golden Temple only to see similar crowds. After finishing the visits to these places we went to Kesar Dhaba for lunch, as recommended by a lady co passenger in the plane. You know ladies can never go wrong in matters of tastier food. We had huge glass of Lassi at Ahuja’s again recommended by her. In fact Anvaya ( our group member ) too had fished out same names from the Google’s net. The lady’s recommendation was a confirmation test as we do in the chemistry lab. We bid good bye to Amritsar with heavy stomachs and soon started snoring in our air-conditioned tempo-traveler.

Amritsar – Part I

We landed at Amritsar on June 17^th at about 1PM. We checked in the hotel and realized the one of our bags were exchanged with some other passenger. I was checking our tags to find out which tag was missing, when Indigo officials contacted us and gave contact number of the person with whom our bag got exchanged. We had opened the bag to find the contents and saw that the bag had all the baby stuffs like diaper, milk, child clothes etc. We were not as much worried now about our bag as it contained only eatables but worried more for their bag because we thought that the kid would suffer and so the family too. We immediately contacted them. However, Mittals ( the other passenger in this exchange ) were smart enough to carry some extra stuff in a separate bag with them so they were cool and chilled out. Mr. Mittal suggested to exchange the same in the evening / night, as they were already on the way to Wagha Border.

We freshened up and came out to head for Wagha Border. Our Driver Suggested to Have lunch on the way instead of the city. We agreed as we saw logic in Jang Bahadur’s Logic. What a name, we thought. His parents though gave him this name as he was born after the war ( Jang in Punjabi ) with Pakistan. I said to myself “ Simple people – simple thoughts “. We stopped over at Balle Balle Dhaba for lunch. This name too sounded funny and weird. That is Punjab – Rustic & simple straight forward. We had Lacche de paranthe with panner vegetable and lassi. The Paneer rarely taste so fresh & soft in hotels here in Mumbai or Pune.

We reached the border at about 3.30 PM. A couple of guys gheraoed ( no better word in English ) us. They all had paint and brush in their hands. They wanted to put the tricolor on our hands. The patriot in me was lured by the idea. Immediately a tricolor was on my left hand in less than 3 minutes, I had to shell out Rs.40 for it. I felt my engineering degree never gave me such returns.

We walked up to the gate and felt that we were well in time to get some vintage seats. We were in for a shocker though. We all were used to the crowds on Churchgate / VT during the rush hours, or probably coming out from Wankhede stadium but the crowd at the border took our breath out. There were separate queues for ladies and gents. Somehow Uday Kaka & I managed to get in to the main arena and hoped to see ladies in our group sooner or later. It was not to be. Poor Ladies saw the entrance door slammed on their face as they got there. Poor Ladies!! They had to console themselves by seeing the function on the large screen hung outside for such visitors. Nothing could have been so frustrating after travelling 1000 miles for only a few such places in Amritsar. They braved it out standing for 3 ½ hours and greeted us jealously as we came out at about 7 PM. We were really sorry to hear their saga. We all laughed it out had tea and headed for the Golden temple.

Rest in part II including the Exchanged Bag story.

improving railway services

Honarable Shri Suresh Prabhu,

I have a few suggestions to make to see that the railways offer better services. These are as under:

1. Just as we have the senior citizens get preference for Lower Berths, Pregnant Ladies & Temporarily disabled people like fractured leg should be given preferential treatment for lower berths. Such Passengers should get medical certificates from their gynac / orthopedic doctors.

2. Group Booking should be allowed for Tourists / Marriage groups in one compartment together. At Least 6 - 8 passengers in a group should get berths together, 2 / 3 on either side in 2 / 3 tier and 2 on sides  .They should carry a proof to show that they all are together for a reason. Railways can charge Rs. 30 / per passenger for group booking

3. Four compartments ( 2 each in 2 tier & 3 tier sleeper coaches  ) should have a provision for choosing your seats / berths. Railways may charge extra Rs. 50 - 100 / 100 – 200 on flexi time charge basis for 3 tier / 2 tier seats or berths booked on preferential basis.

4.  Wi - Fi  Seva should be given on the go. Railways may charge Rs. 50 for use up to 4 hours, Rs. 80 for use up to 8 hours and Rs. 100 for use beyond 8 hours. These should be paid while booking tickets on line. Rail - Pay can be developed by Railways like PayTM for making payments after boarding the train also. The rail pay can be used for ticket booking on line or through mobile application also.. The same app can be used for purchase of local tickets / passes in metro cities for travel by local / metros.

5. Railways should increase the fares in the range of 5 – 15 % for 2^nd and 1^st class passenger / express / super fast trains every 2 -3 years, and not once in a decade  or so. Similarly it should levy fuel / power surcharge of 2 -5  %  on 1^st class passengers for express and super fast trains.

6. Food Quality needs improvements. I have observed that same menu is served on Rajdhani / Shatabdi / Duranto day - in & day - out for years together. Passengers should be given option for food of their choice, served hot. Railways may charge extra money for this special service.  

The first suggestion is a welfare measure so no extra charges should be levied, whereas Railways should charge extra money for some additional service provided by the Railways. This would help generate additional revenue. The money so generated can be used for improving infrastructure / Safety / Signaling Systems etc.

Shri Jawdekar errs

Today I saw on TV gruesome killing of Neel Gais in Bihar. The order to do so was approved by Environment Minister Shri Jawdekar in response to a request from the state government. It might be as per provisions of Law, so what. Could the state and the center have come out with some other measure ? Certainly yes, in my opinion.

These animals could have been captured and transfer ed to other national sanctuaries where they could have lead a peaceful life till they fell pray to the big cat family or sent to some zoos. I can not see why this could not have been done. The logic and rationale of killing is beyond my comprehension. 

Animal Protectionists, if consulted, might have come out with some more practical solutions.

It appears to be a decision taken in haste, certainly.

Shivaji Maharaj on Currency Notes

Recently a message about it spread like wild fire on mobile networks. Apparently it was a signature campaign of sorts generated by RBI. Every Maharashtrian  took pride in forwarding this message further to garner more and more support. However there was a query questioning the merit or demerit of this campaign. Let me make an attempt to put my perspective on this issue.

Initially our currency notes carried King George photos till independence. Why the ashok sthamba replaced the king George photo has a rationale and a solid reason, and it does not need any explanation.

But, How Gandhi replaced Ashoka Sthamba is a big question. At Least Ahok Sthamba was and still is the symbol of RBI. So logically there was no harm in continuing with it.

RBI must have, certainly under the influence of Congress Ruled Government in that period , brought about this change and replaced the ashoka sthamba by Gandhi's photo. There is no certainty about who christened Gandi as Father of the Nation.

No doubt he stands tall in the list of freedom fighters and other Indians, but certainly he is not the only one.  B R Ambedkar, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Subhash Chandra Bose, Ravindra Nath Tagore, Maharana Pratap, Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Veer Savarkar , Maulana Azad, Guru Gobind Singh, Sant Tukaram & Sant Dyasneshwar etc are few names from a endless list of individuals who played equal roles in the History of India.

So I strongly feel that they all should have been given their due respect and recognition by all, including the RBI. It will be apt and appropriate to commemorate these Indians, recognize their selfless contribution and show respect. Commemoration acts as a reminder to a common citizen.

It would have therefore been befitting if the RBI had set up a committee to formulate a policy about printing currency notes with their photos, much like the postal department does to commemorate these People, and continue with currency notes with Ahok Stambh as a regular currency.

There is always a danger of denigration, misuse show of disrespect of the currency notes , Statues, Road Signs in their names, but then there is a system to take punitive action against miscreants. We should not stop doing certain things just for the fear of such wrongdoings. That in my opinion is cowardice.

After all lord krishna says " karmanye wa Dhikaraste Ma phaleshu Kadachanam  ".

It is altogether a different issue that the RBI has now deferred its decision. But certainly the time has come now to stop eulogizing M K Gandhi alone.

Open Letter to Shri Nitin Gadkari

The Pune  - Mumbai Express way is a death trap of sorts. Government has been doing many things of late, but still it is missing on smaller and simpler but effective means to curb accidents.

It is known that the lane discipline is not at all followed in the country so how can we talk about it for this road. But looking at the number of deaths on such expressways certain things can certainly be done as under:

The heavy vehicles should be limited to left most section of the road. You can put height barricades at certain intervals on the right side , install CC TV cameras at various locations, at least on the accident prone section of the ghat on the road and put heavy penalty to begin with followed by temporary or permanent cancellation of driver license or owner's permit depending on number of violations.

I tell you this will give you immediate results.

Similarly the lighting in the tunnels is anything but satisfactory. Combination of LED & Sodium Vapor Lights and increased number will help in a great way. Similarly the internal walls on the tunnels should be painted with white fluorescent paint and there should be curbing with lights on each side like you see on the runways at airport.

Again these are simple and doable things.

I am a retired professional project engineer and i am ready to help the ministry in improving safety of roads throughout the country, free of cost if my travel and stay is taken care off. choice is yours.

This letter is sent today on his e mail id: nitin.gadkari@nic.in

Letter to the Railway Ministry

Dear Shri A K Mittal
Chairman & Ex-Officio Principal Secretary

Ministry of Railways

After a long time i have some hopes about rejuvenation in Railways.   There is lot of scope for improvement in many areas. I take this opportunity to list out few suggestions to improve the overall condition of railways and also to improve the systems:

Toilets:

The Toilets on all trains need to be changed at the earliest, if we are really serious about Cleanliness, Health & Hygiene in Trains / Stations and in the country. Please do not give this base less defensive argument that you do not have the money. If that was the case then how come we are talking about Bullet Trains? And still if you do not have money put a surcharge or cess on Railway tickets as per the class of travel for a period of say 2 years or 3 years. Review it and extend if required after coming out with a white paper about collection and actual spending, which can be challenged under RTI.

You can also plan a simpler and cheaper option for general and 3 tier compartments. Provide automatic door locking system which locks the doors of toilets for 5 kms before and after the stations. You can provide manual over ride from inside, in case someone is stuck up. Alternatively you can make provision to collect waste under the bogies with auto opening / closing of a suitable shutter plate which closes / opens before and after certain KMs from the station.

Train Reservation:

First and foremost the reservation lead period should be reduced from 4 months to two months. I do not think it is helping the real passengers any which way.

There should be a possibility for group booking. It is observed Most of the times that the group gets a scattered booking and thus they are never together.

Alternatively Railway can design compartments which can have two half compartments of 30 - 32 berths each for a 3 tier compartment and 20 - 22 berths for a 2 tier compartment. So at any time these could be assigned to 2 groups separatgely, or can be thrown open in case there is no group booking. The railway could charge extra money for such exclusive booking.

For on Line booking the railways should certainly come out with the option of seat / berth selection left to the passengers, much like it is available for air lines, Pvt Buses, Cinemas etc.

Railways should have a couple of 3 tier bogies and at least one bogie exclusively kept for quotas for various stations on route, and also for VIP quotas. Then it will be possible to implement the berth selection rights to the passengers.

For On - Line Bookings, Make it mandatory to provide any of the Photo IDs like the PAN Card Number / Voter ID / Adhar Card Number to avoid agents getting away with major bookings. In fact the system should demand the number and uploading of the card to have a better leak proof system. Keeping separate time slots might not be serving the intended purpose. For Off Line Bookings the booking clerk should ask for the ID proof and up load on the system. The ticket should also get print out of the id proof. Railways can consult some experts and come out with a foolproof solution.

Speed Of Existing Trains:

I would also like to request the ministry to first take up the task of increasing the speed of existing trains by about 30 % or so. It may call for some investments in improving the condition of railway lines. So be it. But that should be taken on pripority. The travel time can easily be reduced by an hour or two in a 600 - 800 kms travel.

Similarly Laying of 2 Lines on long distances should be taken on priority. Lot of time is wasted because of single line between many stations.

General:

Number of bogies should be increased by opting for a higher capacity / power engine. We may have to increase the platform length to ensure that the full train gets a platform.

Electrification should be completed on all major routes.

All Level Crossings should be replaced with flyovers or subways, as required.

Special 2 tier bogies should be designed and included on all major routes to suit senior citizens. The upper berth could be designed with a suitable ladder where senior citizens could climb easily. The  lower berths should be automatically assigned to citizens above certain age and the upper berths could be assigned to other senior citizens. A few berths should be designed and assigned to specially able persons. At Least one toilet in such compartments should also be designed accordingly.

The railway stations / platforms / special train compartment should also be designed to ensure that such specially able citizens are comfortable throughout the journey.