CR’s Parcel Depot earnings cross Rs 1 cr
| Date :25-May-2020 |
Parcel Depot team of Nagpur Station during loading of Parcel
Special Train.
By Sagar Mohod :
Overcoming the hurdles due to countrywide lockdown, Central Railway’s (CR) Nagpur Division earnings crossed Rs 1 crore, a significant achievement given the constraints and limited growth opportunity in region. Aided superbly by co-ordinated working wherein Parcel Depot at Nagpur Railway Station took lead, the division posted handsome achievement over the Zone. As Railways stated COVID-19 Parcel Specials, division bosses working under leadership of Krishnath Patil, Sr. Divisional Commercial Manager (Sr. DCM) got down to brasstracks. On top of that a perfect planning by Operations Department under guidance of Ashutosh Shrivastava, Sr. Divisional Operating Manager (Sr. DoM) ensured prompt stabling and running of the Parcel Special trains.
The First Parcel Special train left carrying mostly vegetables to various stations in Easter part of the country, namely Shalimar, Bilaspur, TataNagar, New Guwahati, etc. Loading started from Nagpur station and then Wardha and Betul stations were also opened for parcel loading due to swift decision on part of Zonal bosses enabling generation of additional revenue during the hard time. Nagpur Depot was highest grosser with Rs 55.07 lakh, Godhni - 49.92 lakh, Wardha - 0.85 lakh and Betul - 0.73 lakh. A total of 2653.42 tonnes of material was loaded and dispatched to various centres. Assistant Commercial Manager (Coaching) Vijay Thool, ACM (Goods) S G Rao also played effective role in co-ordination and marketing efforts. From Godhni per month two rakes are loaded with raw material carried till New Tinsukhia where factory of Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) is located. M/s Western Carrier, a freight agent, has provided single largest revenue to Nagpur Division till date, about Rs 49.92 lakh.
About 896 tonnes was loaded and dispatched from Godhni itself. During the course of lockdown, Parcel Depot at Nagpur hogged the limelight owing to several innovative measures adopted by the field staff. Notable among it was the delivery of medicine parcel to an NRI based at Ludhiana. The act apart from generating goodwill for the division also prompted Railways to make changes in rules to allow delivery of parcel anywhere in the country even if there is no direct link to the station. The Team at Nagpur Depot was led by Shekhar Balekar, Chief Parcel Supervisor (G), and with his team it performed superbly in lockdown period. Nagpur Division did not stop with this accolades as it went ahead and tied with India Post to undertake bulk delivery of goods.
This led to creation of India Post Railway Service that enables door step delivery of goods. The arrangement is quite novel and put Railways in a driver seat as it overcomes the main hurdle of door step delivery that so far hampered the national carrier in increasing its depth in other segment of good deliveries. During the course of lockdown the initiative taken by division officials, including opening of loading at Wardha and thereafter at Betul paid rich dividends.
It has ensured regular loading of mushroom and charoli from respective centres and once normalcy returns perhaps the bookings might increase in future. The Parcel Depot said it is ready to handle deliveries to Chennai, Mumbai, Gorakhpur, Porbander, New Guwahati, Shalimar, Secunderabad, Patna, Allahabad (Prayagraj), Ranchi, Ahemadabad, Delhi, Tata Nagar, Bilaspur, Rourkela, Pune and Raipur and traders should take advantage of the same.