Jansadharan counter gets good patronage

MANGALORE: The lone counter of Jansadharan Ticket Booking Sevaks (JTBS) outside the Mangalore railway station, which opened a year ago, is gradually getting adequate response.
Senthil Kumar, who mans the counter with two staff, said the response was lukewarm for the first six months after its launch in December last year. Kumar was the only one who applied for JTBS.He was earlier working as a contract labourer at the railway parcel department. “Looking back, I think being a contract labourer was a better proposition where I was earning close to Rs 600-Rs 650 a day. I can breathe easy now as the response has been good for the past one month,” he adds.
There were times when only 25 tickets were sold per day at the counter. JTBS get Re 1 commission for every ticket sold. “Now that the numbers have reached 600-700, it’s okay,” he says. The response is much better during holidays as JTBS sell about 1,000-1,100 tickets daily.
Kumar says people still don’t believe that they dispense genuine railway tickets. The rush at general unreserved booking counter at the railway station has reduced after JTBS operations, but not as considerably as expected, say railway officials. Kumar says he has to pay in advance ticket sale value to the railways which acts like a currency and goes on reducing when he issues the tickets.
“But in case of mismatch in the number printed on the ticket roll and the ticket number generated from railway server, Rs 1,500 gets cut as penalty. I have suffered four times due to server malfunction,’’ he added.
The rush hour is only for the 4.30pm passenger train to Kannur where students and those traveling to and from Kasargod for work, patronize this counter.
Ravindra Nayak, who works as a salesperson here and has a monthly pass, says JTBS get patronized only if a passenger is in a hurry and wants to avoid standing at the long queue at the station. “The passenger has to pay a rupee extra at the JTBS counter. Maybe that acts as a deterrent to daily commuters,’’ he added.