If the news of a leading news channel of the country is taken consideration is taken into consideration there is a relieving news for the commuters of Indian Railways. As per the report the Indian Railways is planning to quash the Tatkal scheme in the trains of country. The report says that the Railways has taken the decision to prevent the misuse of the Tatkal scheme and to discourage touts from taking advantage of the emergency ticket booking facility. If sources are to be believed, the Indian Railways may soon also make it mandatory for ticket seekers to furnish proof regarding their identity and give reasons for the urgent travel.
It should be noted that recently a sting operation conducted by a leading news channel of country exposed the blatant misuse of the Tatkal scheme by agents, railway staff and some Delhi Police officials, who were cornering and reselling tickets meant for passengers. The sting operation forced the Railway Ministry to take urgent steps to curb the black-marketing of railway tickets. The Ministry, while admitting serious lapses in the management of the Tatkal scheme, said that it is considering several options to end the malpractice and scrapping the Tatkal system is one of those measures.
In the meantime, the Railway Ministry is mulling to implement an emergency quota system under which a passenger seeking reservation will have to furnish valid reason for seeking emergency tickets. Another key suggestion is to make it mandatory for the passengers to furnish identification proof if they seek reservation under the Tatkal system. Earlier the ID proof had to be furnished only by the person travelling with the ticket.
Among other measures, the Rail Ministry is mulling to scrap the Tatkal ticket sales at counters and allowing only e-reservations and changing the timings for the Tatkal ticket booking to avoid overlap with booking times for normal tickets. Earlier measures taken by the Ministry to streamline the Tatkal system like allowing only two tickets per person, disallowing change of passenger names after booking and stricter cancellation rules does not seem to have helped much.
The taktal system is existing since long for traveling in the trains run by Indian Railways. Earlier it used to be only two tickets in some trains of India for the ailing passengers. However, during the UPA I government the then Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav extended the tatkal quota in all trains of the country including Rajdhani at the rate of 10% percent of total capacity for each train. During the UPA II Government the tatkal system failed to serve the purpose and it became a wonderful way to make black money for touts and railway officials.
In the recent time it has become tough almost impossible for common people to get Tatkal tickets either from counter or online through www.irctc.co.in website. The media houses of the country including news channels and newspapers have done many sting operations and brought exclusive reports to expose the black market done in the name of Tatkal ticket booking. If the railways abolish the Tatkal ticket booking scheme it would be a great relieve for common people traveling in Indian Railways.
