Railway users through an online poll have demanded that VIP quota berths in trains be made available for the common man to address real emergency-travel needs of all instead of it catering to a select, well-connected few. Imagine if an extra half a lakh of train berths are added to the existing pool of train accommodation every day. What if India's train passengers, battling with long waiting lists, got a chance to jump the queue on an emergency basis, over and above the facility of the Tatkal tickets? VIP quota, Emergency Quota or “EQ” as they are called, constitutes four per cent of all reserved berths made available for the 1672 mail/express train passengers every day. Which means an estimated 50-60,000 extra berths. For trains originating from Delhi alone, the number of EQ berths is around 7,000. The online poll carried out by social media community called “Make Railways Better” on LocalCircles heavily tilted in favour of rationalisation of this quota system in railways. Results of the yet to be released poll, accessed by The Indian Express, say that as much as 89 per cent of the respondents felt that the system of allotment should be brought online, while 39 per cent said that the system should be completely eliminated. The system of allotment of these berths is shrouded in non-transparency, the poll results indicated as 84 per cent respondents said they were not even aware that so many extra berths are allotted over and above the waiting list for each train. If the option to jump the waiting list queue is opened up for the public on an emergency application basis, the berths should be priced same as premium tatkal rates, 61 per cent of the respondents voted. While passengers have to scale the long waiting lists to secure a confirmed berth, a select few availing of the EQ can jump the queue and get in without paying an extra. The “privilege” is a system to make sure accommodation is granted for unplanned emergencies. As the name suggests, VIPs like senior government functionaries, MPs, MLAs and suchlike avail of them by putting in a request with Railway authorities. Over the years several parliamentary committees and zonal railway users' committees have often flagged that the system should not be plagued with misuse. In fact a few years ago the Central Bureau of Investigation scanned to ensure that this facility was not getting played in the hands of “touts”.
