Finance Division has proposed that Bangladesh Railway (BR) introduce a fully automated ticketing system as it feels that a considerable amount of revenue BR earns from ticket sales is not deposited with the government exchequer.
The finance division officials said that they will develop an application, integrating the Integrated Budget and Accounting System iBAS++, if Bangladesh Railway agrees. Through this system, revenue earned from ticket sales will be directly deposited with the government exchequer.
A high official of the Finance Division told The Business Post that the app will allow the passengers to collect tickets digitally, and pay through the digital system while railway staffers at the counters will use digital means as well.
“We can develop the system in three to four months if the railway authority agrees. This will stop misappropriation of government revenue. The railway, its passengers and the government--all will benefit from it,” he said requesting not to be named.
The Finance Division placed the proposal at a programme held in the capital on Monday with Secretary of the Ministry of Railways Md. Humayun Kabir in the chair. High officials of the Ministry of Railways and BR were present.
According to BR officials, currently BR has online, computerised and manual ticketing system. They have introduced online ticketing system at 85 stations out of 483 across the country. While purchasing tickets online, passengers pay through mobile banking and the amount goes to vendor’s account.
The vendor deposits the amount in the BR’s account deducting its charges. The BR later deposits the amount with the government exchequer through treasury challan.
When passengers purchase tickets from the station counters that have the online system they pay the amount to the booking clerk who keeps entry in the online system. The booking clerks deposit the amount with Agrani Bank after some days and the bank sends the money to treasury.
The Finance Division said that Agrani Bank cannot verify if the clerks deposit actual amount that they collect from the passengers. Besides, in the remote areas, staffers do not deposit the ticket money and other revenue properly in the railway’s account. The rest of the railway stations sell tickets manually.
In the online and manual systems, vouchers are preserved as card copy. As a result, the Railway cannot get the situation of revenue earning in real time. The high officials cannot know immediately how many tickets have been sold and what the revenue amount was.
According to the proposal there will be an interactive dashboard for the railway online ticketing system. The dashboard will generate real time reports on number of passengers and revenue collection situation which will help officials to monitor.
For passengers, there will be citizen dashboards in app, at station platform and website where they can monitor ticket availability of the trains. The proposed tickets will have QR codes and the color of tickets will different for different routes. Ticket checkers will scan the code to check its authenticity.
The railway counters will have point of sales machines which will divert sales to the government treasury directly. In the new system online, computerized and manual ticketing system will be integrated to an online based e-ticketing system and will be integrated with iBAS++. It will create system to generate dashboard reports.
The Inventory Management System of the Railway Ministry will be connected with IBAS++.
