Kumbh mela 2019-Paradigm Shift in Indian Railway
INDIAN RAILWAYS TO DEPLOY PERSONNEL AND VOLUNTEERS AS ‘RAIL KUMBH SEVAKS’ DURING KUMBH MELA-2019 IN PRAYAGRAJ
Indian Railways is all set to introduce a paradigm-shift in the concept of ‘Service’ in the Kumbh Mela-2019. In the Kumbh in Prayagraj, scheduled to start from January 2019, all the Railway Personnel and Volunteers deployed by the railways will be seen in a new Avatar of ‘Rail Kumbh Sevaks’. These personnel and volunteers will be easily identifiable by means of a special jacket, which will be in striking and clearly visible colours, and will have the words ‘Rail Kumbh Sevak’ printed on it. Besides doing their regular duties, these Rail Kumbh Sevaks will help inGuiding, Regulating and Helping pilgrims coming to the Railway Premises. Speaking on the initiative, GM/NCR Shri Rajiv Chaudhry said that the idea was to make the railway personnel and volunteers easily identifiable by the normal passengers and devotees alike during the duration of the Kumbh Mela-when the footfall at the railway stations is expected to be extremely high-so that the passengers can approach them for help as and when needed by them. “The Rail Kumbh Sevaks will be especially trained and sensitized regarding the demands and importance of their work, which will also imbue them with a sense of special pride” he added.
More than 5100 additional railway staff have been requisitioned for the management of the Kumbh Mela. These will consist of RPF (2600), Commercial (1500) and Other Departments (1000) and have already started arriving in Prayagraj from more than 10 different Railway Zones of the Country. The North Central Railway, which is the coordinating railway zone for all the Kumbh Mela related activities of the Indian Railways in Prayagraj, is also trying to equip some specially trained Rail Kumbh Sevaks with ‘Offline Hand-Held Ticket Vending Machines’. The machines, which have been christened ‘Praveen Mobile Ticket Vending Device’, (PMTVD) will be used to dispense Unreserved Railway Tickets to passengers in the Kumbh Mela Area by the Rail Kumbh Sevaks who will be mobile railway personnel. “The idea of these hand-held ticket dispensing machines is as yet in the rudimentary stage, but we are working on it and trying to make it functional by the time the Kumbh Mela starts, in order to make the tickets available to the devotees wherever they are” said CPRO/NCR. “Service with a smile is our guiding principle and we are confident that the Rail Kumbh Sevaks will take this motto to the general public and help in making their mela-experience much more pleasant and memorable” he added.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Indian Railways has done a massive investment of Rs 700 crore in Prayagraj to upgrade its infrastructure and will be running more than 800 outward bound special trains during the mela period, half of which will time tabled. These trains be specially branded with images of the Kumbh Mela and the important architectural landmarks of the city of Prayagraj. The concept of ‘Rail Kumbh Sevaks’ will be the proverbial icing on the cake which will help to bring together all the efforts of the Indian Railways in one seamless whole, to provide a delightful experience to train user devotees.
Source: http://www.ncr.indianrailways.gov.in