Most people who have ever travelled in the general compartment on trains of the Indian Railway have had at least one unpleasant experience while doing so. Overcrowding, lack of hygiene and little courtesy to the elderly and sick are issues seen in the general compartments of trains on a near-daily basis.
The woeful state of general compartments and the overall inadequacies of the existing Railway network have often been cited to question the Narendra Modi government's plan to spend around $17 billion on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project.
So, on June 27, Rajan Kumar, a Facebook user, posted the story of an elderly couple travelling on a train to visit their newborn grandchild. While it is unclear whether he was referring to an actual incident or not, the story immediately struck a chord with social media users; over 5,000 people have shared the post on Facebook till date.
The posts starts with the elderly couple entering the reservation compartment of a train with a heavy iron trunk. The couple are going to visit their daughter's newborn son. The ticket collector tells them, “This is the reserved compartment. Either go to the general compartment at the next stoppage station or pay Rs 800 (as additional charges).”
The post mentions the husband obtained two days' leave from his boss with great difficulty and secured Rs 700 as advance wages. The couple opted to enter the reserved compartment as they could not enter the crowded general compartment despite making an effort.
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The ticket collector then agrees to allow them to stay if they pay Rs 400, saying he will issue one receipt, which is an illegal practice. The story goes on to describe how the husband and wife calculate their plan to compensate for the loss of more than half of their money. The husband says “they would walk to their daughter's house and return by a passenger train,” which is slower. He also decides to cut the gift money they planned to give their new grandchild from Rs 200 to Rs 100.
Wiping tears, the man says, “If I met (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, I would say instead of spending so much on bullet trains, pay to install four general compartments on all trains so that passengers like us don't have to give Rs 100 less to our grandchild.”
DISCLAIMER: THE WEEK has been unable to independently verify the veracity of this incident.
