New Delhi: Senior railway officials on Wednesday informed a parliamentary panel that more than 60 per cent tickets were cancelled in March this year due to coronavirus, even as the panel came down hard on the Railway Board chairman for a "shoddy presentation" of the steps taken to tackle the virus, sources said.
The Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture had convened a special meeting with the railway and aviation ministries, seeking an update on the precautions taken by them in view of the infection that has led to three deaths in the country.
Chairman Railway Board, V K Yadav was criticised by the parliamentary panel for "shoddy presentation" of the preparedness of the national transporter in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak.
"Railway Board chairman was unprepared and made a shoddy presentation at such a sensitive time," a member of the panel said.
Yadav informed the Committee that over 60 per cent of tickets were cancelled this month due to coronavirus.
He appealed all to avoid any non-essential travel.
The parliamentary panel meeting which was attended by 20 MPs slammed Yadav for being "unprepared".
"While the aviation and tourism officials came with presentations with slides, Chairman Railway Board did not. He just read out from some papers he was carrying. He was unprepared and made a shoddy presentation," said an MP.
Sources privy to Yadav's presentation said the panel members instructed him to prepare a detailed report on the steps taken by the railways to prevent the spread of the deadly disease.
Meanwhile, Yadav informed the panel that the railways has prepared pamphlets on dos and dont's of coronavirus which are being given to passengers, to which the panel asked him what he intended to do with the illiterate passengers who cannot read such pamphlets.
"Neither you nor the railways is prepared," a senior member reprimanded Yadav.
The railways has issued advisories to all zones to restrict gathering of crowds at platforms, sanitised coaches, issued set of guidelines for its catering staff and even cancelled 85 trains across zones.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal also held a high-level meeting on Tuesday and formed a response team comprising executive directors from the Railway Board -- consisting of ED passenger marketing, ED health planning and ED environment management among others to deal with COVID-19.
This team will coordinate all COVID-19 preparedness activities, monitor progress through online dashboard and other forums, resolve issues of railway zones/PUs, issue advisories and media briefs and prepare position for review meetings at various forums.
One nodal officer from each railway zone will serve as point of contact for all COVID-19 preparedness measures and will be in constant touch with the COVID Response team of Railway Board.
Online monitoring system has also been created to do real time monitoring of the efforts across the country.
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