30.85 lakh CG Employees are supposed
to use Air India for their leave Travel concession (LTC).
According to government rules, it is mandatory for all Central
government employees to use Air India to avail LTC. The employees, who get LTC
twice in four years, can choose to go by air, Railways, roadways or ship.
The Air India website has a special section for LTC Tickets.
Bookings can also be done through authorised agents such as state-owned
Tourism and travel companies like Ashok
Travel and Tours, Balmer and Lawrie and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation. It has been found that for a
ticket booked on November 9 (Sunday) during the evening hours for a
Delhi-Hyderabad Air India flight for December 14, a normal one-wa passenger fare was Rs 5,901, which was almost same as those offered by
private airlines like Jet Airways, IndiGo and GoAir. However, Air India’s LTC
fare was more than double the amount at Rs 13,248 for the same trip.
Similarly, LTC Fares for other domestic and international destinations on November 9, as it has been
further discovered, were much higher than normal ones. As LTC ticket bookings
are the most lucrative segment for loss-making Air India, over 20 seats on any
domestic flight are reserved for such passengers.When contacted, the Air India
spokesperson claimed that LTC fares are better
than market fares. But the fares shown on the Air India website accessed by the
reporter belie that claim.The spokesman further said, “Central government
employees also get the benefit of changing their travel
schedule or cancelling tickets. The cost
of cancelling tickets is very minimal compared to cancellation in case of normal fares. The cost of LTC ticket is more or less the same
if you compare with private carriers.”
A senior government official said that while the objective
of travelling by Air India seems to be to save money for the government, it actually ends up paying more for LTC.
“The government is losing crores of rupees due to this
overcharging by Air India,” he added.
In June, the DoPT) in an order reminded all government employees
to buy LTC tickets from Air India. “As far as possible, air tickets on government account may be obtained directly from the Air India
(booking counters, offices, websites) and if obtaining tickets
directly from Air India is not possible, the services of authorised travel agents may be availed of,” the DoPT said in
an order. The DoPT order further stated that in several cases, it has been
noticed that the instructions are not being followed and as a result, various
ministries and departments continue to make references to
DoPT seeking relaxation of the conditions for one
reason or the other. DoPT is also cautious about fake presented by government employees.
Source-tkbsen
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