The system of allowing students to book cabs through their identity cards has raised concerns of fraudulent billing ever since the idea was implemented 5 years ago. President of the Student Union, Bharatharatna Puli, addresses these issues in an interview with the English Press Club.
Once students fill the relevant details on a form, they keep the receipt and submit the bill to the cab company, which submits it to the SU at the end of the semester. The SU verifies the authenticity of the bills and resolves discrepancies – if any – by contacting students individually. The erstwhile vendor, Verma, exploited his knowledge of the system to swindle students by submitting bills with ID numbers of random students. Additionally, in some instances, a particular student was billed the entire amount, or students gave someone else’s ID number instead of their own. The bills were much higher than expected, some reaching as high as forty thousand rupees. Although the SU attempted to resolve these issues, they were not handled effectively.
Last year, a new system was being developed wherein students would fill in their details in a Google form. The SU would retain editing rights, while the vendor would have only viewing rights. The driver would verify the identities of his passengers and independently, the SU would bill them. Unfortunately due to the drivers their lack of familiarity with the technology, the idea had to be shelved.
On asked what can be done to prevent these vendors from cheating the students, Puli explained how the responsibility of choosing the correct vendor lies on the President, Gen. Secretary and CRC representative. This time, after considering previous experiences and market image, the tender was awarded to Bhagwati Tours and Travels, even though there were lower bids. Puli remarked, “We faced some flak from the institute for this decision, but we’ve explained the situation to them. I have even written to the director, justifying our decision.”
The total value of discrepancies has been around 30-40 thousand rupees of around 60-70 students this semester, Puli revealed. The issue is being tackled by sending out forms for discrepancies with the SU calling these students to resolve fake bills and overcharging.
When questioned how the SU plans on preventing this in the future, Puli said that the earlier proposed solution of using Google forms was possible. While the drivers’ illiteracy poses an issue, they could be taught how to use the system. He also emphasised that ultimately, it is the responsibility of the students to properly note down the distances of the journey and its hilly segments. In order to increase transparency and ease, a semester review will take place.