INDIA POST SHORTLISTS 6 CONSULTANTS FOR PAYMENTS BANK FORAY

The country’s largest postal service provider, India Post, is expected to float a request for proposal this week to select a consultant for its Postal Bank that is expected to be formed by December.

India Post has shortlisted six consultants, including EY, KPMG and McKinsey, from which it will select one firm to take care of consultancy work for the payments bank foray, a senior government official told BusinessLine. “The firms were shortlisted on October 15. The name of the one selected will go to the Public Investment Board (PIB) for approval. Then the PIB will make recommendations to the Cabinet,” a government official said.

The official said the whole project will go for Cabinet approval in November (early next month). Once that approval comes through, the company (Postal Bank) is expected to be registered as a public company in December. India Post is among the 11 successful applicants that recently got in-principle nod for payments bank licence from the Reserve Bank of India. The new registered company will be called India Post Payments Bank and will have an initial capital of ₹300 crore, higher than the minimum ₹100 crore stipulated by the RBI. The company will be based on a revenue-share model.

Once the company is set up, India Post will fully leverage the existing postal network (technology, personnel, etc) for its payments bank foray with a separate logo. The bank will undertake the following types of payments: P2P (people to people) — involving, say, remittances; C2G (citizen to government) — taxes, duties, levies, and so forth; C2B (customer to bank) — e-commerce-related payments, among others; and G2C (government to citizen) — such as direct benefits transfer payments

7TH PAY COMMISSION – CURTAIN RAISER

7th Pay Commission – Curtain Raiser – “The Seventh Pay Commission may consider pay ratio of the pay of the bottom paid employees to the pay of the highest paid officials will come down to 1:9 from 1:12″, sources indicate.

The government constitutes the Pay Commission almost every 10 years to revise the pay scale of its employees and often states also implement the panel’s recommendations after some modifications.

Headed by Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur, the four-member 7th Pay Commission was appointed in February 2014 and the commission will hand over its recommendations to government within December 31, 2015.

Though the Official recommendations are yet to be submitted to the Government, there are many flares going around, some may be true and some may be flaws.

However, at the end of the day, it is the so called ‘sources’ who give some hint. The following is the latest the sources indicate…..

1. The commission may recommend government to ask Information and Technology department, whether it is possible to have systems in place for monitoring and supervising work being done remotely by disabled and women central government employees.

2. “As flexi working hours will allow women central government employees to strike a balance between her professional and family responsibility, maintain healthy lifestyles and contribute to parenting well, it is recommended for the same and urge upon the government to work out the modalities in this direction.”

3. Women employment under central government has been estimated to the tune of 3.37 lakh, which is 10.93 percent of the total regular central government employment, according to census of central government employees as on March 31, 2011.

4. “We are looking at whether it is technologically possible to allow disabled and women employees for working from home,” said the source. “A need was felt to provide work from home facility to persons with disabilities and women to enable them to effectively discharge their duties.,” he added.

5. The Pay Commission is likely to recommend increase 40 percent salaries hike of central government employees on average, the full implementation of which would raise the central government spending on salary and allowance Rs 1,00,619 crore.

6. The commission may recommend Rs 20,000 as salary for those in the bottom grade and maximum Rs 180,000 for Secretary level officers. The sources in the panel said pay parity ratio of mid-level tier officers will be maintained with the bottom grade.

7. Earlier, all pay commissions had not only recommended for good salary to top central government officials but also considered the disparity ratio between its highest and lowest paid employees.

8. For instance, in 1948, the post-tax salary of the highest paid government official was Rs 2,263 which was 41 times higher than the Rs 55 paid to the lowest earning employee. With subsequent pay commissions the ratio was reduced to about 1:12 in 2006.

9. “The Seventh Pay Commission may consider pay ratio of the pay of the bottom paid employees to the pay of the highest paid officials will come down to 1:9 from 1:12″, sources indicate.

10. The first pay commission was recommended Rs 55 salary to the lowest earning employee, second Rs 80, third Rs 185, fourth Rs 750, fifth Rs 2550 and sixth Rs 6660.

11. “However, the Seventh Pay Commission is likely to recommend Rs 20,000 salary for lowest paid employees and Rs.1,80,000 for highest paid officials, “.

12. Grade Pay was derived from USA and it has increased in prominence in the early 21st century in USA. Federal employees in USA at all levels are paid based on Grade Pays. The six pay commission followed them. A grade pay is a structured pay format where employees are placed at a given pay level based on their level of education and work experience related to the position.

13. “Central government has 15 grade pays now from Rs 1,800 to Rs 12,000 for job level pay variance of its employees. Generally, multi tasking staff (MTS) and clerical jobs that require formal education, just a high school or higher secondary, who are at are at the lower levels from grade pays 1,800 to 2,000.

14. Every employee does not get promotion in time. So, if Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) Scheme is not maintained it will be seriously affected,” the sources said.

15. Accordingly, the sources said the Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) Scheme is likely to be kept the current status quo.

16. Sources say, rather than hiking pay and allowances, the panel is focused on making employees more efficient, modern and valuable. ‘The commission was created to hike salaries and allowances for central government employees but the commission now is actually focused on “efficiency, technology, skills and Pay link with productivity.’

16. The central government employees federation strongly believe that the 7th pay commission cannot recommend revising the retirement age of central government employees, since it does not fall under the purview of 7th Pay Commission. It is the central Government which makes such decisions. Yes true, but it is under purview, sources indicate.

17. The Finance ministry has already opened its stand saying, the Seventh Pay Commission will be mindful of the fiscal concerns of the government while giving its report on new pay scales and remunerations for central government employees and pensioners. Sources indicate, hence the Finance ministry has a role to play in the final report of the 7th Pay Commission.

18. The pay panel will ask the central government to urge the insurance industry to come up with feasible health insurance solution for the central government employees and pensioners. The IRDA, the insurance regulatory body of India, will be compelled to ask the health insurance companies to offer a basic insurance to every central government employee and pensioner.

19. Health insurance would be available for central government employees and pensioners till death, the insured employees and pensioners will have to pay 50% of the premium from their salaries and pensions and the remaining 50% premium may be paid by the central government.

20. The CGHS is financed mainly through the Centre’s tax revenues. Though beneficiaries do contribute a share of their wages towards premium, ranging from Rs 600 to Rs 6,000 a year depending on their pay scale, this accounts for just about 5 per cent of the total expenditure. The government shells out the remaining 95 per cent. Now the Government is looking for ways to end the CGHS in its current form and to move to an insurance based health scheme to cut costs

Untold sufferings faced by the workings staff in CBS rolled out offices throughout the Country – Immediate and personal intervention is requested– Reg.

ALL INDIA POSTAL EMPLOYEES UNION GROUP ‘C’

CHQ: Dada Ghosh Bhawan, 2151/1, New Patel Road, New Delhi - 110008

Ref: P/4-4/CBS-CIS                                                                                    Dated – 20.10.2015

To,

Ms. Kavery Banerjee

Secretary,

Department of Posts,

Dak Bhawan, New Delhi 110 001.

Madam,

Sub: - Untold sufferings faced by the workings staff in CBS rolled out offices throughout the Country – Immediate and personal intervention is requested– Reg.

A kind attention is invited to our earlier references on the subject, wherein the problems mentioned therein are almost unaddressed till date. It is a known fact that CBS migration is undergoing in large no. of offices in many Circles. Till time more than 5000 offices are rolled out to CBS, because of the pressure applied by the  Department in  haste.  Because of such a fast approach, the end users   at the Counter area are affected badly, and the public also suffering a lot.

Whereas in Banking Sector, when such migration is undertaken, it has been carried out in a phased manner for eg. in SBI, the leader in Banking sector, migration was made only in 100 branches at the  first year.

You may aware that the staff are struggling with outdated computers and peripherals, which were purchased during  the  year 2000 to 2005 and no funding is  made so far to replace them  till date and as a whole the  Department  is  surviving with very old hardwares. Even proper up gradation of CPU is not made in many areas and the Software loaded is upto Windows XP, almost in most of the offices. Finacle can be  loaded only with Windows 7 and  hence  the  officers at ground level are  pressurized to use pirated version of Windows 7, which is  totally illegal and  leads to  legal litigation from  Microsoft. The staff are compelled to work in the outdated mode with pirated software, resulting in non operation.

The MOU made with M/s Sify, for net work integration is limiting to low bandwidth such as 128 Kbps to 256 Kbps in single and double handed offices, and 256 kbps to 512 kbps in ‘A’ class to LSG offices resulting in sluggish connectivity and takes hours together to transform the data. This results in hang over and the transactions could not be able to be made at the instant, as the Department expects. It requires at least 1 to 4 Mbps and M/s Sify refused to increase the bandwidth now.

                                                                                         

End of day process cannot be made after validation/supervisor verification and the staff has to wait for the nod from the Infosys, even after midnights on several days and at times it can be made on the next day morning.  Even the women employees are compelled to   complete the EOD process in midnights and their husbands or wards waiting till midnights to carry home. They could not attend even their family, personal and social obligations, resulting in loss of mental balance, family problems, stress and social problems. There is no safety and security for the women employees leaving the office by late nights, especially in rural areas, where there is no transportation available. It is our responsibility to ensure the safety and security of the women employees and no untoward incident should be allowed to happen as in case of Jyoti Singh Pandey of New Delhi.

Even the Help desk provided is not answering and the end users are taken to task  and  receiving brick bats from the irate public.  This results in  closing of  accounts in large numbers  that too,  can be made  not on the  date of presentation but  after few days  and  our  Department  looses  large  chunk of customers, because of the miscalculations, wrong estimations  and over ambitious stand of the  bureaucrats.

Consequent to the increase in large number of Post Offices on CBS, it was observed for the past two months that the Data Centre Closure process is executed during day time that too during peak Counter hours. This results in slow accessibility of Finacle throughout the country. Irrespective of bandwidth, the  Finacle slowness has been experienced in all Post Offices in the recent past. This affects the public services very badly during the peak hour viz.from 11.00 am  to  03.00 pm on daily basis.

Furher, due to Finacle slowness, the most affected operation is the Cheque Clearing operations.  The Clearance House sends the images of the cheques to the Head Offices at around 08.00 am in the morning. The onus of furnishing the information pertaining to Bounced Cheques, that too before 11 am to the clearing house, lies on the respective Head Offices.  If the information pertaining to Bounced Cheques is not received before 11.00 am from the concerned HOs, the entire amount of Inward Clearance cheques are deemed to be CLEARED by  the clearance house.  This leads to encashment of bounced cheques, the  responsibility of which lies  on the shoulder of the  poor officials and they have to face contributory negligence  recoveries.

Since from the day of the first migration, the staff unions are complaining about the deficiency in services provided my M/S Infosys Ltd, especially facing enormous problems in the Finacle Software, besides bandwidth, net work, transmission and Server problems. On each and every occasion or from the day we are complaining at all levels, there is one word reply that, everything will be set right and put into rails one by one as this is only a transition period and everybody should bear with, in the interest of the Department. This is the saying mooted out and spread everywhere, from top to bottom.  Now the 2 years Contract period for total the implementation is nearing completion and there is no sign of improvement and the problems persist and aggravate everywhere. It is most unfortunate to mention that we are all bearing with all these hardships and sufferings, in the interest of M/S Infosys.

Because of all these deficiencies the Department not only losing  the  customers, besides there is  huge loss of man days and  due to non operation  there is huge loss of  money. This should be compensated with. There is a penalty clause in the Contract for deficiency in service. Instead of pulling the poor ground level officials, the application of penalty clause may perhaps be considered and applied on the service providers viz. Ms. Infosys and M/s Sify. It is reported that India Post has undertaken the project for switching over to  Core Banking Solution  platform with a total project outlay of Rs. 800 crores.  Hence, in the interest of the Department, we request the Secretary Posts to pursue with, on the direction, in order to pull the vendor and to save the customer services, the image of the Department and the public money.

Based on the above, our  Union  requests  the  Secretary Posts

i) to stop  such unmindful migrations into  CBS/CIS  immediately till settlement of the problems reported ;

ii) to provide adequate  infrastructure to the  ground level offices,  such as replacement of systems, computer peripherals , UPS, battery, printers  etc.  immediately;

iii) to improve the bandwidth  of sify network   atleast to the  level of  512 kbps in single handed offices and to the level of  4Mbps in Head Post offices ;

iv) to centralize the EOD process at CPC  level  in all circles and to relieve the official at ground level

after  completion of validation process , without  late night detention ;

v) to centralize the cheque clearance work  at  CPC  level, since  it is  now under  CBS ;

vi)  to ensure  the operation of  CBS  without  interruption/slowness during  peak hours  to cater  the  need of the  common public .

Soliciting immediate response and reply.

With kind regards,

Yours sincerely,

(R. N. Parashar)

General Secretary

Finacle / Mccamish receipt Printing in Dot matrix Printers - Suggestion reg.

Finacle  and Mccamish receipts printing can be done in Dot matrix Printer itself in legible, readable way by changing the settings as below:

Open the PDF document to Print 

--Go to File

--Print

--Properties

-- Advanced

-- Below Paper Quality, Graphic appears and 120x72 dots per inch stands selected defaultedly. If you click on 120X72, a combo box will appear. From the drop-down, select 240X216 dots per inch.

--Give Ok.

--Ok.

--Print.

         I am doing in the above manner and printing reports in Finacle and Mccamish. Its a humble suggestion for our colleagues suffering without Laser printers. I faced hardship without laser printer and then tried and found it by trial and error method. I would like to inform you so that you will let our colleagues know. 

Thanks to

K. Radha, SPM,
Srirangam West S.O.
Trichy-620006.
ph: 9486311338.

Govt Doubles Monthly Bonus Calculation Ceiling To Rs 7,000 ( W.e.f April 1, 2015 )

New Delhi: The Cabinet today decided to double the wage ceiling for calculating bonus to Rs 7,000 per month for factory workers and establishments with 20 or more workers.

“The Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Bill, 2015 to enhance the monthly bonus calculation ceiling to Rs 7,000 per month from existing Rs 3,500 was approved by Union Cabinet here,” a source said after the Cabinet meeting.

The amendment bill will be made effective from April 1, 2015. Now the bill will be tabled in Parliament for approval.

The bill also seeks to enhance the eligibility limit for payment of bonus from the salary or wage of an employee from Rs 10,000 per month to Rs 21,000.

The Payment of Bonus Act 1965 is applicable to every factory and other establishment in which 20 or more persons are employed on any day during an accounting year.

PTI

Government plans to focus on financial literacy; postmen to tutor rural India on banking system

NEW DELHI: The government is looking to utilise the services of postmen to teach people in rural areas how to use banking services and access various state-sponsored financial inclusion schemes. The finance ministry is working on developing a structured NEW DELHI: The government is looking to utilise the services of postmen to teach people in rural areas how to use banking services and access various state-sponsored financial inclusion schemes. The finance ministry is working on developing a structured programme as part of a new strategy for financial inclusion under which banks will pay a fee to use the services of the postal department.

"The idea is to turn a post office into a financial literacy hub. We will organise weekly literacy camps and selected post office employees will undergo a structured training programme developed by banks on financial literacy," said MS Ramanujan, member (banking and HRD), Department of Posts.

India Post is among the 11 successful entities that recently got in-principle approval for a payments bank licence from the Reserve Bank of India. Tentatively named as 'India Post Payments Bank,' the entity will have an initial capital of Rs 300 crore.'

"We are looking to leverage our entire postal network," said Ramanujan. He said banks will pay a small fee to use the services of the

postal department depending on the location, details of which are being worked out.

A senior finance ministry official said the government is looking to focus on financial literacy as part of its financial inclusion programme. "Now that the accounts have been opened, we want to ensure that people take advantage of all other schemes, including soft loans under the MUDRA Yojana," said the official, who did not wish to be named.

So far, about 18.86 crore accounts have been opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), with deposits of nearly Rs 25,700 crore.

"Around 40% of these accounts have zero balance. We want them to develop a habit of banking, so that they can have a credit history and use other services," the official said.

The Centre had last year launched three social security programmes - the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana

(PMJJBY) and the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) - to bring the excluded under the fold of formal financial services. The drive is billed as 'Jandhan to Jansuraksha' or people's money to public security.

The government has set a target of Rs 1.22 lakh crore for loans to be given by staterun banks to promote new entrepreneurs under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, which will seek to "fund the unfunded".

ET View

The Postman Rings a Second Time

As services and requirements change, so will jobs. A robust system should be able to leverage the existing infrastructure, including human resources, to perform new functions. The decision to leverage the familiarity and trust associated with the postman to improve financial inclusion is a smart move.

The government could also consider redefining the role of other government functionaries

to improve the manner in which different programmes and schemes are accessed by the rural population.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com

Bank Employees to Go on Nationwide Strike on December 2

Bank Employees to Go on Nationwide Strike on December 2 – Opposing merger of associate banks with SBI and dictation of SBI management on service conditions of employees in associate banks, Mishra said “we want autonomy for associate banks.”

An All India bank strike is scheduled for December 2nd. A day prior to the strike across all banks, the State Sector Bank Employees Association (SSBEA) has called upon its members to strike work in all associate banks of State Bank of India.

SBI’s fiat to associate banks instructing them to implement SBI Career Progression Policy seems to have irked the unions.

Explaining why they (SBI associate bank employees) refuse to accept SBI Career Progression Policy, Mahesh Mishra, Chairman, SSBEA said “the associate banks are all separate entities and part of the public sector banks in the country. But government guidelines are not implemented; SBI instead seeks to illegally thrust SBI service conditions in associate banks.”

“It means increase in working hours by one hour each day, 7 day banking, shift system and round the clock banking, outsourcing all manual jobs like sweepers, peons, increased passing powers for clerical staff on par with officers and periodical transfer in clerical and sub-staff cadre like officers and posting in rural and semi-urban areas ,” he said.

Opposing merger of associate banks with SBI and dictation of SBI management on service conditions of employees in associate banks, Mishra said “we want autonomy for associate banks.”

C H Venkatachalam, General Secretary, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) said “bilateralism is given a go-bye and unilateralism sought to be made the rule. Law is ignored and trade union rights over-looked.”

Alleging the SBI management of not respecting the bipartite settlement and tending to move unilaterally, arbitrarily, illegally and dictatorially against employees interest, the AIBEA General Secretary said the General Council of Unions met in Chennai last evening and decided to launch the stir.

The agitational programme, according to the AIBEA release, will start from October 26, with lunch-time demonstration in front of the head offices of all associate banks.

Source : Times of India

Postal Employees two days strike on 01/12/2015 and 02/12/2015 for settlements of

  1. Inclusion of GDS into CPC.
  2. Implementation of cadre restructuring proposals 
  3. Filling up of all vacant posts 
  4. Augumentation of PA,Postman,MTS Posts according to               justified Work

A LETTER OF NFPE ON NON-SETTLEMENT OF PENDING ISSUES

Salient features of Alternate Train Accommodation Scheme “VIKALP” to waitlisted passengers

Salient features of Alternate Train Accommodation Scheme “VIKALP” to waitlisted passengers: Railway Commercial Circular No. 61

ALTERNATE TRAIN ACCOMMODATION SCHEME - “VIKALP”

TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

GENERAL

·                     The Alternate Train Accommodation Scheme (ATAS) is presently being launched under the name “Vikalp” on pilot basis only for the tickets booked through internet on two sectors i.e. Delhi-Jammu and Delhi-Lucknow sectors. Based on the feedback it will be provided on PRS and also on other sectors.

·                     The scheme is presently being implemented only across Mail/Express trains of same category. No extra charges shall be taken from passenger or any refund shall be provided for difference of fare.

·                     The scheme is applicable to all waiting list passengers irrespective of booking quota and concession. In pilot phase the scheme will be available on few pre-designated trains in the above sectors only.

·                     Under this scheme, Waiting list passengers will give choice to opt for ATAS scheme.

·                     ATAS opted passengers who remain fully Waitlisted after charting will only be considered for allotment in the alternate train.

·                     Fully WL passengers opted for ATAS should check PNR status after charting. 

·                     Either all passengers of a PNR or none will be transferred to alternate train in same class. The passenger can be considered for shifting to a train leaving from any station amongst the cluster of stations defined by Railways based on the convenience of the passengers to a station serving the destination station on the same analogy.

·                     The ATAS opted passengers who have been provided accommodation in the alternate train will not figure in the waitlisted charts of their original train. A separate list of passengers transferred in alternate train will be pasted along with the CONFIRMED and WAITLIST charts.

·                     The passenger allotted alternate accommodation can travel in the alternate train on authority of original ticket.

·                     Waitlisted passengers of original train shall not be allowed to board the original train if allotted alternate accommodation. If found travelling, they will be treated as travelling without ticket and charged accordingly.

·                     Passengers once provided alternate accommodation in alternate train will be treated as normal passengers in alternate train and will be eligible for up gradation.

·                     In rare situations, passengers who have been provided alternate accommodation might get dropped/re-allotted in alternate train due to last minute change in composition of the alternate train at the time of chart preparation. So, passengers who have been provided alternate accommodation should check PNR status also after preparation of charts of the alternate train for final status.

·                     This information will be available on Call Centre (139), PRS Enquiry Counters, Passenger Operated Enquiry Terminals installed at stations and WEB ENQUIRY onwwwindianrail.gov.in.

·                     When an ATAS opted passenger opts to cancel,after he/she has been given an alternate accommodation, he/ she will be treated as a CONFIRNIED passenger and the cancellation rules will apply accordingly.

·                     No refund for difference of fare between the original train and the alternate train, including Tatkal charges, if any, will be given to re-allocated passengers.

·                     Once an ATAS passenger has been allotted alternate accommodation, journey modification will not be permitted. If required, the passenger will have to cancel the ticket and book a fresh ticket for modified journey.

·                     When a passenger who has been allotted alternate accommodation has not performed his journey in the alternate train, he can claim for refunds by filing a TDR request.

IMPORTANT PASSENGER INFORMATION:-

PLEASE NOTE

1) Opting for VIKALP does not mean that confirmed berth will be provided to passengers in alternate train. It is subject to train and berth availability.

2) Once confirmed in Alternate train, Cancellation charges will be as per your berth/train status in  alternate train.

3) In this scheme, your boarding and terminating station might change to nearby cluster stations.

4) You can be transferred to any alternate train available within 12 hrs. from the scheduled departure of original train, in which you have booked.

5) Please check PNR status after charting.

IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS FOR DBA: 

1. H/20 switch needs to be set along With ATAS effective date range to define trains under ATAS scheme, so that option for alternate accommodation will be taken from waitlisted passengers booked in the train.

 NOTE: It is suggested that the scheme be launched with effect from ARP opening date or no-booking date of main train otherwise it will lead to breach of priority for waitlisted passengers booked in same TDRC prior to launch.

2. For grouping of trains under ATAS scheme, a feature is provided in GUIDBA. Using this option Database operator can define set of main trains with every alternate train to which WL passengers will be transferred. E.g. Alternate train S is mapped to main trains M1, M2,. M3; then waitlist passengers of M1, M2 and M3 will be transferred to vacant berths in train S. Flexibility to indicate scheme start date and end date with special/alternate train is also provided. While defining these pairs, following restrictions are imposed by the system:

 a) Train type of main train as well as alternate train should be same.

 b) Train source station of main train and alternate train can be from cluster of principle stations.

 c) Destination station or principle station of alternate train should be .present as a valid ISL in main train.

 d) The scheduled departure of the alternate train is at least 1/2 hour and maximum 24 hours after the scheduled departure of original train.

NOTE: In case the scheme is to be applied on all trains of a sector to balance load across different trains in the sector, then multiple pairs should be defined by DBA. For example: If there are 4 trains in a sector say A, B, C and D and it is desired that waitlist in any of these 4 trains if  present should be transferred to vacant berth in any of these 4 trains if available i.e. every train is a main train as well as alternate train based on availability status at the time of charting. Then database will have to define 4 pairs of ATAS group, one for each train as alternate trains and other three trains as main train i.e. B, C and D will be main train for A; A, C and D will be main train for Band so on. Also it will be required to set ATAS flag (H/20) on all these 4 trains so that ATAS option from Waitlist passengers is taken in all 4 trains.

 3. In alternate/ special train, database operator can mark the train as reserved for ATAS in a given period i.e. only ATAS opted waitlist passengers will be transferred to this train and no normal booking will be allowed in the train.

 4. In alternate/ special train, database operator can also mark a particular coach as reserved for ATAS in a given period i.e. ATAS opted waitlist passengers will be transferred to this coach first and no normal booking will be allowed in this coach. Coaches blocked for ATAS in alternate trains will have only GN quota defined in it.

 5. Resetting of chart switch will not be permitted in main trains which are marked under ATAS Scheme i.e. once charts are prepared for the main train it could not be reverted back in any scenario.

Railway Board's Circular:

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

(RAILWAY BOARD)

No. 2007/11 G-I/ZO/P/ATAS

New Delhi, dated 14.10.2015

The Chief Commercial Manager, CMDHRCTC, MDICRIS, Chanakyapuri,
Northern Railway, New Delhi New Delhi. New Delhi

Commercial Circular No. 61 of 2015

Sub: Introduction of Alternate Train Accommodation Scheme “VIKALP”.

With a View to provide confirmed accommodation to waitlisted passengers and also to ensure optimal utilisation of available accommodation, a scheme called “VIKALP” has been conceptualised and is being introduced w.e.f. 01.11.2015 initially only for the tickets booked through internet as a pilot project for six months, on Delhi Lucknow & Delhi-Jammu sectors of Northern Railway. In this scheme, wait listed passengers. of a train can opt for confirmed accommodation in alternate trains. The salient features of this scheme are enclosed.

2. It is requested that a wide publicity may be given to the features of this scheme for information of general public.
DA: As above

 (Vikram Singh)

Director Passenger Marketing

Railway Board 

Source: http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/uploads/directorate/traffic_comm/Comm-Cir-2015/CC_61_2015.pd