SWR to do away with a colonial practice

GIRISH PATTANASHETTI

General Manager of South Western Railway Pradeep Kumar Saxena inaugurating the ‘doorstep banking’ facility; (right) the cash chests through which the Railways used to transport cash earlier. —Photos: by special arrangement

Railways to stop physically carrying cash and ticket earnings from all stations to the revenue cash office

Beginning February 1, the staff of the revenue cash office and station masters of 301 railway stations in South Western Railway will be a relieved a lot, as they will no longer have to worry about the movement of heavy currency chests.

Reason: the railway zone, established in 2003, has become the first in the country to adapt ‘doorstep banking’. This marks the end of a colonial tradition of physically carrying cash and ticket earnings from all stations to the revenue cash office.

Tie-up

For facilitating the transition, SWR has tied up with State Bank of India, which will now take the responsibility of collecting cash from railway stations through its agents.

“Station masters will now save the time they had been utilising for transportation of the collected cash stashed in leather bags and chests through the ‘designated cash train’. With the old system being done away, we will now be able to utilise the available manpower, mainly Group-D employees, for other works,” Financial Advisor and Chief Accounts Officer of SWR V. Chandrashekara Rao told The Hindu .

As per the existing system, the cash collected in stations were moved through heavy cash chests through designated trains to be accounted in centralised places called revenue cash offices. This cash was in turn deposited into Reserve Bank of India by the revenue cash office. “The movement of cash took considerable time as it had to be counted carefully and then accounted for. It was risky too,” Mr. Rao said.

He said that the transition was facilitated due to an initiative taken by SWR general manager Pradeep Kumar Saxena.

“So far door step banking has been implemented only in Hazipur Division and a small division like Pune. But it is the first time that an entire railway zone is shifting to doorstep banking,” Mr. Rao added.

Heavy currency chests were moved through ‘cash trains’

At least over 10 persons were required to move the heavy chests

The cash went to revenue cash office, where it was counted and accounted

It was then deposited at the Reserve Bank of India

With the transition, 30 employees will have no work

They will be shifted to other departments