(a) the steps being taken by the Railways to prevent touts for blocking bulk tickets and making fraudulent bookings;
(b) whether the Government is contemplating to introduce online ticketing system to prevent touts from blocking bulk tickets and if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the steps taken by the Railways to promote cashless ticketing system in the country?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)
(a) to (c): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3404 BY SHRI RAJAN VICHARE AND
SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 22.03.2017 REGARDING TICKETING TOUTS.
(a) Indian Railways has taken a large number of measures to keep a check on the activities of unscrupulous elements/touts involved in malpractices in reservation, some of which are as under:-
i. Modification of Railway Passengers (Cancellation of Ticket and Refund of Fare) Rules.
ii. Automatic preparation of reservation charts at least 4 hours before scheduled departure of train and thereafter booking of available accommodation through internet as well as through computerized Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters.
iii. Condition of carrying of original proof of identity during journey by any one of the passengers booked on the ticket.
iv. Conducting of regular and surprise checks by Security, Vigilance and Commercial Departments.
v. Provision of CCTVs at important PRS locations.
vi. Augmentation of capacity of existing trains/running special/new trains to meet the additional demand particularly during peak rush periods subject to operational feasibility.
vii. Educating general public to buy tickets only from PRS counters/authorised ticketing agents.
(b) On Indian Railways facility of booking reserved tickets through internet is already available since 2002. During the period from
January, 2017 to February, 2017, the reserved tickets booked through internet constituted around 62% of the total reserved tickets booked.
(c) All tickets booked through internet are cashless. Moreover, instructions have been issued to all Zonal Railways for installation of Point of Sale (PoS) Machines at all PRS and UTS locations to allow cashless transactions using Debit/Credit cards. Further, ticketing through mobile phone has also been introduced wherein payment is made through cashless means. Instructions have also been issued to Zonal Railways to ask Yatri Ticket Suvidha Kendras (YTSKs) issuing reserved/unreserved tickets to provide PoS Machines and to encourage Jan Sadharan Ticket Booking Sevaks (JTBSs) issuing unreserved tickets to accept payment through digital modes like UPI, USSD, E-wallet and Aadhaar enabled payment system.
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