Dilbagh Singh appointed full-time DG of JK Police Railways scraps flexi-fare in some trains and reduces fares in others
JAMMU: Dilbag Singh was appointed Wednesday as the full-time director general of the Jammu and Kashmir Police as per the guidelines of the Supreme Court, officials said here.
Singh took over as interim chief of the state police force on September 6 after his predecessor S P Vaid, caught in a verbal duel with the new Jammu and Kashmir administration, was shunted out and posted as transport commissioner.
The name of Singh, a 1987batch IPS officer, was cleared by the State Administrative Council headed by Governor Satyapal Malik here.
A panel of three names for the post was submitted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) last week.
The Supreme Court on September 20 had made it clear that Singh will continue in office till the UPSC scrutinises and provides a panel of three police officers for regular appointment of the police chief.
Singh will continue to hold the post of director general of prisons as an additional charge.
Vaid was posted as Transport Commissioner, a post which was held by Saugat Biswas, a 2006-IAS batch officer. The post has been upgraded from additional secretary to the rank of secretary. It will be headquartered in Jammu.
Dilbag Singh’s batchmate V K Singh, who was functioning as Special Director General at the police headquarters, has been shifted and posted as commandant general of home guards, civil defence and the state’s disaster rescue Force. NEW DELHI: In a relief for passengers, the railways has scrapped flexi-fare in 15 premium trains in which the occupancy is less than 50 per cent throughout the year, while the scheme will be discontinued in 32 other trains during lean periods when occupancy dips to 50-75 per cent. The step comes in the wake of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report in July that had flagged the dipping occupancy level since the scheme was introduced in September 2016 and had recommended rationalisation of flexi-fare.
Sources in the railways also said that while the national transporter will incur losses of around Rs 103 crore due the changes brought into the scheme, it hopes to recover not just the losses but also generate additional revenue by increasing occupancy through the reduced fares. The sources said that a 15-per cent jump in occupancy of the 15 trains in which flexifare is being scrapped will compensate for an estimated loss of around Rs 22.41 crore because of the changes.
An increase of 30 per cent occupancy in the 32 trains where the scheme is being discontinued during lean periods (February, March and August) will lead to recovery of losses of an estimated Rs 40 crore, the sources said. Any further increase in occupancy will lead to additional revenue, they said.
The railways has also reduced flexi-fares from 1.5 to 1.4 times the base ticket fare in 101 trains, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said Wednesday.
Doing this will lead to a loss of Rs 40 crore for the national transporter, the sources said.
“The plan is that rationalising fares would lead to increase in occupancy which in turn would ultimately lead to increase in revenue,” a source said. Some trains in which the scheme will be discontinued because of low occupancy include Kalka-new Delhi Shatabdi, Howrah-puri Shatabdi, Chennai-madurai Duronto, Guwahati-dibrugarh Shatabdi, New Delhi-bhatinda Shatabdi.
The trains in which flexifares will not be applicable during lean periods include Amritsar Shatabdi, Indore Duronto, Jaipur Duronto, Mumbai Duronto, Bilaspur Rajdhani, Kathgodam-anandvihar Shatabdi, and Ranchi Rajdhani among others.
On September 9, 2016, the railways had introduced flexi-fare for premier trains: 44 Rajdhani, 52 Duronto and 46 Shatabdi. Under this, the base fare increases by 10 per cent with every 10 per cent of berths sold, subject to a prescribed limit. There was no change in the existing fare for first AC and economy class.