Policy for Allotment of STD / PCO Booths
1. Objective :- To provide easy and user friendly access to passengers to communicate in emergency or otherwise .
2. SCALE AND NUMBER OF BOOTHS
| CATEGORY | CRITERIA |
| A | Non-Suburban stations with annual passenger earnings of Rs 6 Crores and above. |
| B | i)Non – Suburban station with an annual passenger earning between Rs 3 Crores to Rs 6 Crores. ii)Station of tourism importance , or an important junction station( to be decided by General Manager ) |
| C | All Suburban stations |
| D | Non- Suburban station with passenger earnings between 1 and 3 Crores |
| E | Non- Suburban station with earnings less than1 Crore |
| F | Halt Stations |
The Telephones shall be provided by BSNL / MTNL or any other authorized service provider duly selected in that State and operating under regulations of TRAI .
3. OPERATION OF BOOTHS
These booths will be operated by duly selected booth operators who should provide good quality of customer service .
4. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF BOOTH OPERATORS
( FOR ALL CATEGORIES OF APPLICANTS / STATIONS )
4.1 The booth operators should be educated unemployed person. No educational qualification is necessary for reserved categories such as SC / ST / OBC / Women / Physically Handicapped including blind persons.
4.2 The applicants should not be less than 18years of age on the date of opening of tender . There is no upper age limit .
4.3 EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
The educational qualification requirement for allotment shall be as under :-
i ) at least matric or high school and above for urban areas .
ii ) 8th or middle pass and above for rural areas .
4.4 ANTECEDENTS
Before awarding of the license , the antecedents of the applicants should be got verified by police .
4.5 In case of D, E & F category stations , the applicant should be a local resident of the area . The residence would be treated as local residence if it is located within the same district in which the station where the booth is proposed to be allotted is also located . For this the applicant will be required to submit a certificate of local residence from the DM / ADM of the district in which the station is located or Voter Identity Card .
5.VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL RESERVATION IN ALLOTMENT : The booths will be divided into 3 board categories i.e. educated unemployed youth , physically handicapped and women . There will be quotas within this broad category as under .
5.1 The vertical and horizontal reservation percentage in allotment of the STD / ISD / Local call / FAX / Internet booths at stations will be as under :-
| Category | Total % | Percentage reserved for various categories |
| SC | ST | OBC | UR |
| Educated Unemployed Youth | 50% | 15% of 50% i.e.7.5% | 7.5%of 50% i.e.3.75% | 27% of 50% i.e.13.5% | 50.5%of 50% i.e.25.25% |
| Physically Handicapped (including Blind , Disability 40% and above ) | 25% | 15% of 25% i.e.3.75% | 7.5% of 25% i.e.1.875% | 27% of 25% i.e.6.75% | 50.5% of 25% i.e.12.625% |
| Women (including War widows and Railway employees widows) | 25% | 15% of 25% i.e.3.75% | 7.5% of 25% i.e.1.875% | 27% of 25% i.e.6.75% | 50.5% of 25% i.e.12.625% |
| Total | 100% | 15% | 7.5% | 27% | 50.5% |
5.2 The quotas as specified above shall be maintained at Divisional basis .
5.3 For the purpose of working out number of booths to be allotted to various categories of persons at various categories of stations , the following procedure shall be adopted :-
To illustrate , if there are100 booths to be allotted at all A class stations of a particular Division , 25 will be allotted to physically handicapped persons , 25 to ladies and 50 to unemployed youth . Amongst the 25 booths allotted to physically handicapped persons , 15% will be allotted to SC , 7.5% to ST and 27% to OBC and the remaining 50.5% to the general public . The same method will be adopted in case of women and unemployed youth.
The category of persons to which these booths will be allotted will be determined trough a draw of lots to be done by any child separately for A,B & C category of stations and on combined basis for D,E,& F stations .
For one time identification of booths , a committee of 3 officers at Assistant / Senior Scale level should be constituted by the DRM. In this manner each booth will be allotted a specific number and category of person for allotment which is to be called its booth ID .
5.4 After the present contract is over or in case of termination of contract etc , the booth should be allotted to the person belonging to the category as per the booth ID . Moreover future tenders will be booth specific only . In case , due to construction of new platforms etc. additional booths are to be set up , the identification for these booths will be done through a draw of lots to be done by any child based on the remaining category of persons of the table , as per the procedure prescribed above .
6. PROCEDURE FOR SELECTION
6.1 For allotment of booths at A, B & C category of stations , two packet tendering system will be followed . For D ,E & F category of stations , the allotment will be done by the DRM on the basis of draw lots to be done by any child . The detailed procedure will be as under .
6.1.1 PROCEDURE FOR A,B AND C CATEGORY OF STATIONS
Offers shall be invited by the division concerned through advertisements in the national / State level / Local News paper etc . Two packet tender system viz Packet A and Packet B should be followed .
6.1.2 Packet A containing the technical offer will be opened first and should inter alia have following documents .
i ) Authenticated documents showing educational qualification of the applicant
ii ) Affidavit declaring assets and liabilities .
iii ) Documents showing that the party has the requisite financial resources to pay the necessary MTNL / BSNL charges etc for getting the connection as well as constructing / installing a booth at the earmarked site and capacity to pay Railway Licensee Fee as also for employing staff to man the booth .
iv ) Earnest money as stipulated .
6.1.3 Packet B which is the financial offer shall be opened after short listing on the basis of Packet A and shall contain the financial bids only and no other document . The financial bid shall have two components . The first one shall comprise an undertaking for paying the land license fee as notified by the Railway Administration from time to time . The second component shall be an offer in terms of percentage of the commission payable to him by the telephone service provider i.e. BSNL , MTNL or any other authorized service which shall in no case be less that 10% of the commission payable to him. The maximum will also not be quoted more than 100% in the tender . In any renderer quotes more than 100% commission , the tender will be treatetd as invalid . This should be specifically mentioned in tender papers.
6.1.4 After the bids have been received , a Tender Committee comprising three officers of appropriate level including one from Commercial , Civil and Finance department respectively will scrutinise the Packet A and short list those who qualify in technical offer and reject summarily all those applications which are not accompanied by any of the documents stated for Packet A Therafter Packet B of only those bidders who qualify for opening of their financial bids in Packet A will be opened . The highest offer received should be considered for acceptance by the approving authority i.e. Divisional Railway Manager . However aas the highest bid has been restricted to 100% of the commission , there will be a draw of lot to be done by any child if there are more than one candidate officering same higher bid ; Candidate should be advised the date , time and venue of the draw by Courier / Regd AD to enable them to attend if it they so desire .
6.1.5 The commission together with land license fee will be paid by booth operators to Railway authority . Applications for each booth will be called for and considered separately .
6.2:- PROCEDURE FOR SELECTION FOR D.E.&F CATEGORY STATIONS
6.2.1 The two packet tender system will not be followed for these categories of stations . Applications will be called for by the division by giving suitable advertisements in the National / State - level / Local Newspapers etc . The eligibility criteria will be decided as per Para4 and the applicants shall also enclose documents as specified in Para 6.1.2 (I to IV ) above .
6.2.2 After the applications have been received , a screening committee of the Division consisting of officers of appropriate level including one from Commercial , Civil and Finance Deptt shall scrutinize and shortlist the eligible offers . The allotment of booth will then be made by the DRM through a draw of lots should be done by any child . All the eligible candidates shaould be advised the date , time and venue of the draw through Courier / Regd AD so that they may attend the draw if they so desire .
7. LICENSE FEE AND OTHER CHARGES
The following charges will be realized from the booth operator:
7.1 Land license fee at a uniform rate of 20% of the notified cost of the land price prevailing at the stations as notified by the Railway from time to time will be paid in respect of all categories of stations and the same will be increased by 10% every year. Extract amount of land license fee will be worked out and mentioned in the tender document.
7.2 Commission
(i) The percentage as agreed upon shall be the commission payable in case of A, B, C type of stations. (This percentage shall in no case be less than10% of the commission payable to the booth operators by the service provider i.e. BSNL/MTNL/ or any other authorized service provider.
(ii) In case of D, E, F category of stations, minimum 10% of commission payable to the booth operators by the serviced provide i.e. BSNL/MTNL/or any other authorized service provider is payable to Railways. The percentage of commission to be charged for each station falling under D, E & F categories of stations will however be fixed by the Division in consultation with their Associate Finance subject to minimum of 10%.
8. TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR ALLOTMENT
8.1 Only one booth would be allotted to one person. An undertaking should be obtained that applicant is not operating another STD/ISD/PCO/FAX/Internet booth on the Indian Railway premises.
8.2 The maximum size of the booth will be 5X6 feet.
8.3 Two telephone lines will be permitted in one booth.
8.4 The booth holders will be permitted to install FAX facility within the space allotted and in case FAX facility is installed, an additional telephone connection may be permitted. The booth holders shall also be permitted to install internet kiosk for which 10% space of the area be given extra on payment of additional land license fee. However, care should be taken not to congest the platforms.
8.5 (a) For operating the booth, the licensee will pay one year annual land license fee in advance before construction permission is granted.
(b) Commission shall be paid by the licensee to the railways based on commission payable to him by MTNL/BSNL to the licensee.
(c) The initial land license fee decided at the time of signing of the agreement will be increased @ 10% for every subsequent year.
8.6 The earnest money deposit will be retained by Railways as part of the security deposit. Security deposit of 6 months land license fee shall be deposited by the successful bidder.
8.7 The period of contract would be for a period of five years. This would be extended for another five years, by the competent authority on recommendations of Divisional Commercial Manager/Senior Divisional Commercial Manager with finance concurrence provided the performance of the booth operator is satisfactory and full license fee is regularly deposited during the tenure. License will be for a maximum period of 10 years only including extension period and no further extension shall be permitted. Railways should take timely action to call fresh bids well in advance (preferably six months in advance) and not renew any of the contracts after the expiry of contractual period of 10 years including extension.
8.8 MTNL/BSNL/or any other authorized service provider bills would from the basis for realizing the commission for all facilities given to the licensees.
8.9 No subletting of premises/booth will be allowed.
8.10 In case of death of the licensee during the tenure of the contract, the license may be transferred in the name of his/her spouse for the unexpired period only, irrespective of the fact whether he/she belongs to the category under which the license was accorded but subject to conditions that he/she will get the telephone booth transferred in his/her favour from the BSNL/MTNL or any other service provider on the request of his/her spouse or legal heir as stated above. However, if the spouse is not available the booth shall be allotted afresh after following due procedure.
8.11 For easy identification of PCO booth by the rail users, yellow colour with black border should be used. they should conform to standardized design made by Railways.
8.12 In order to ensure that the facility is availed only the person in whose favour, the license has been granted, it would be mandatory for the licensee to operate the booth personally at least in one shift of 8 hours.
8.13 The party who has been allotted booth will have to start the booth within one month of allotment failing which his/her allotment may be cancelled and earnest money forfeited.
9. MONITORING OF PERFORMANCE/PAYMENT
(i) Feed back about performance from the users of the facility should be gathered.
(ii) There should be a periodical check on the service being provided.
(iii) Quarterly paid statement should be prepared by accounts department and given to commercial
department. Details to include the confirmation about the timely payment by the party and the
position of outstanding dues, if any
(iv) A separate dossier to be maintained for recording performance of the party.
(v) An officer should be nominated at Divisional/Zonal Railway Headquarter to monitor.
(I) Timely payment.
(II) Satisfactory performance of service etc.
10. The administration (i.e. Divisional Railway Manager or General Manager) will have the right to terminate the license if the licensee is not conforming to the conditions laid down by the Railways and if there are complaints against him/her for overcharging, etc. the contract will be terminated after issuing due notice. The Licensee shall be liable to pay such penalty as Administration may inflict for complaints against the licensee for overcharging etc. Without prejudice to the other remedial measures, which may be available under the Agreement, the licensee shall be liable to pay, at the sole discretion of the Administration, also a penalty not exceeding Rs.500/- for any action in contravention of the clause of this agreement.
11. A copy of the draft Agreement to be entered into is enclosed. This can be suitable modified depending upon the category under which the booth is allotted.
12. These conditions will apply prospectively. Fresh allotments of STD/ISDPCO/FAX/Internet Booths will be made only as per this new policy guideline.
