NT NETWORK
MARGAO
The railway ticket booking service at the Raia post office in South Goa is besieged with problems including staff crisis and poor internet connectivity.
The railway authorities have tied up with the Indian Post with an aim to provide better service in the rural areas to lessen the hardships faced by the train passengers.
Though the service was extended by the South Western Railways, the tickets of KRC trains were also made available using the online service.
“The system is almost paralysed here. It is not working. Whenever I went to Raia post office to book train tickets to Valankanni, I had to come back as the answer was ‘net is down and the system is not responding.’ This happened to me twice. And, so I had to rush to Margao to book the tickets,’’ said John Fernandes of Raia.
“The internet connectivity and staff shortage at the post office of Raia have affected the service. I demand with the railway authorities to inspect the counter to ascertain the problems faced by the locals and to provide us a better service,” said Joanita Colaco e Baretto.
She added that the local commuters never got the benefit of train ticket booking during the festive season as the officials inform of ‘problems.’
A visit to the Raia post office confirmed that the service is affected due to the poor internet connectivity.
The post office also faces the shortage of trained hands. The training to book the tickets online is given only to the particular staff by the post office and as such, whenever the concerned staff member is on leave, such a service is affected.
Sources said most of the train tickets booked from here are for travel to Mumbai, Pune, Valankanni and Howra.
When contacted, in-charge of the Raia post office, sub post master (SPM) Mangala Naik admitted that due to poor net connectivity, the service gets affected.
“The service is slow. This happens because of low speed of the internet. As we do not have a special staff member dedicated only to this job, those seeking railway tickets have to stand in queue among the other visitors. We have no option,” Naik said.
In a month, roughly 20 train tickets are booked from this post office, she added.