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Railway probe reveals racket behind ticket hoarding touts: Report
The railway ministry has found out the reason behind passengers not being able to get confirmed tickets on popular routes even after turning up at ticket counters at 8am, the Indian Express reported on Thursday.
The railway ministry has found out the reason behind passengers not being able to get confirmed tickets on popular routes even after turning up at ticket counters at 8am, the Indian Express reported on Thursday.
The Express said that the ministry in an internal probe found that every day, 4,000 confirmed berths would be hoarded by touts within one minute of the computer reservation system being opened to the public.
"Touts would buy any ticket a day in advance and the next day, they would get ticket details changed. The booking clerk merely had to generate another PNR with the passenger details already fed into the system a day earlier. This took seconds," Ajay Shukla, Member (Traffic), Railway Board, told The Indian Express.
A "facility" in the passenger reservation software lets a passenger, who has already purchased a ticket, to alter journey details and book another train within seconds at the last moment.
"We have now disabled this facility for the first hour after the system opens," he said.
The railway ministry launched the probe after it found out that a large number of tickets were being booked this way and it also pointed out involvement of booking clerks and other insiders in the racket, according to the daily.
It will now find out the culprits and take action against them, it added.
