Even as there is no word from govt on the arrangement for NEET, JEE students, Central Railway says it is ready to roll out trains at moments notice
Commuters get their QR code passes checked on Thursday
Even as Central Railway (CR) began implementing the QR code ticket system at 15 stations on Thursday, Divisional Railway Manager Shalabh Goel said they are also prepared to begin local train services and are only waiting for the government's directives to come.
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"We need to understand that the state government sends a request to the railway ministry which then conveys it to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). MHA then assesses the situation and takes a call, only after which a decision on train movement is taken," he said.
"Our trains are maintained well and are all ready and staff can be gathered to resume services. We started scanning QR codes on Thursday," he added. "The highlight of the day has been the implementation of QR codes from today. Till now data of 3,34,500 employees of 95 essential service organisations have been uploaded in the system, 1,80,400 QR codes have been generated. The remaining people have not yet uploaded their photographs. The scanning is being done through a machine and an app. The photograph, name and other details are displayed on the screen associated with the link in the QR code. About 600 staff from the commercial department, RPF and the GRP have been given user IDs and access to the checking app," he said. The select trains running on CR, as of now, halt at 24 stations and of these around 15 have staffers checking the QR codes.
The CSMT station has a machine installed to scan QR codes as part of a pilot project
"As of now they are not compulsory, but slowly as things move ahead, we shall start tightening the grip and they will be made compulsory," Goel added.
No directive on NEET-JEE
About allowing students appearing for exams like NEET and JEE on trains for exams, Goel said there were no directives yet. The railways will work on creating Standard Operating Procedures along with state government when they come. JEE and NEET exams are in early September.
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