The parcel service provided by IRCTC is too good to be true. It’s just the ground level staff that messes up the whole game – probably just like every other case of a good government scheme. I just graduated (yay!) from NISER and had to move some stuff away from Bhubaneswar to home – my 29T cycle, lots of books on pscyhology, math and physics, and Indian Philosophy. The following is a report of the whole story.
ACT I - Blinkit to the rescue!
My return ticket along with my Dad and Mom was scheduled for 13th July’s Visakha Express leaving Khurda at 09:10 hrs. The parcel office staff communicated to me couple of days earlier, to reach the office by 06:00 hrs on the 13th to finish all the paperwork. So I did that, and of course, I pre-booked the auto from NISER to leave at 05:00 itself. After a lot of juggling with luggage and seeking help from a porter, I reach the parcel office at around 05:25. The first shock comes when he surprises me with the requirement of a XEROX copy of my Adhar. Of course, I didn’t have it on me. So, for few minutes I panicked internally. I didn’t know where to get it that early without having to go back to NISER. I was also planning to request the station superintendent if they could help. Just when I was leaving platform number 3, Blinkit pops up in my mind. I open the app, and it says the store is closed. Luckily, the store opens at 06:00. So the XEROX was smoothly sorted. I had for 20 minutes to place the order. Until then, I HAD to go through the IRCTC rules, because there was no way the staff was gonna give me clear information.
ACT II - Rules are Calming!
I looked at the form (forwarding note) that’s supposed to be filled manually. It asked me to write the value of each consignment, and whether I wish to pay the increase charge based on the value. The increased charges for private parcel services are extremely high. What I learned apart from the already well known IRCTC’s negligible travel insurance cost (~ 0.45/person) is that the parcel insurance is also quite affordable. The freight charge calculation is a bit involved. I looked at most of the liability regulations put forth by IRCTC. I decided to go ahead and give the correct value of all the consignments. But right when I was doing it, I notice the unprofessional work from the parcel staff. They assumed I won’t care about the procedure and asked me to declare the value that is far low from the correct and also write something that translates to not having to pay the increased charge. Such a careless procedure can cost a lot to the customer. IRCTC’s costs are very low and I told them without hesitation that, I was gonna declare the right amount and will pay the increased charges. In the end it costed me 230 Rs. for a Carton weighing 14.2 Kg with books registered in their system as household goods. And 376 Rs. for the Cycle (the default item in their register is Bi-Cycle-40 Kg).
The whole process took a lot of waiting. After I got my XEROX, I had to wait for an hour – because two agents just arrived to send their customers’ luggage by a train which was gonna leave in about 15-30 minutes.
Actually, the parcel office recommends booking and submitting the consignments 3-4 hours before the train scheduled arrival/departure of the corresponding train. However, clearly these things run till the last moment. Things can go a lot smoother if these IRCTC rules are communicated to the citizens more easily, so that the staff doesn’t feel a need to bend the rules. However, it is still the duty of the staff to communicate the rightful information and not escape the formalities.
ACT III - Civic (and Environment) Education
This experience made me again realize how at the ground level, there is a huge need to communicate many civic and environmental aspects with the public. I looked for some opportunities to do something in this direction. I got to know about Solve Ninja, a movement by Reap Benefit of young leaders solving local problems across the country [1].
Can I initiate a Ninja movement near my colony? May be I can try to take note of the important problems near my area – cleanliness at the entry points and the vegetable vendors creating a havoc 300 M away.
Yeah, so I realized that staying in India, I can’t help but think about doing something related to these problems. And the graduation speech from the Union Minister Dharmendra did have an effect on me to think about environmental directions, which is currently and global challenge – while bring a very down-to-earth goal. By that I mean, unlike the quantum mission :)) where I don’t feel an inclination to contribute. But may be all it would take is another perspective changing speech ;).
Need to send an IRCTC Parcel? Here are a few key things I learned.
- Carry a copy of sender’s Adhar and your train ticket if you want to send it via the same train. However, my parcel was sent independent of my ticket, probably because things were not crowded in the morning hours and they were in a good capacity, or for whatever reasons I do not know.
- I used the sender’s address as my own Adhar address and receiver’s address as Station Road, Secunderabad.
- Declare the value of each consignment. Note that the staff has the right to view the items inside the consignment and verify the value declared. The default liability born by IRCTC (in case the value is declared (or not) and the increased charge is not paid) is 50 Rs/Kg or 100 Rs/kg depending on the type of booking – parcel/personal-luggage.
- Make sure you read other additional options provided in the forwarding note.
- Read the IRCTC rules, it’s simple and effective. Avoid any mishaps! Ask what’s rightfully yours! Here’s the link to the rules.
