This story is from July 30, 2018

E-ticket touts give railway police the slip

E-ticket touts give railway police the slip
BOOKING HASSLE: Many passengers complain about difficulties in getting tickets, particularly tatkal during weekends and festivals
BENGALURU: With touts going online, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) is having a torrid time. Earlier, they would collude with railway counter clerks to sell paper tickets in black at a premium rate, but now they seem to have switched to e-touting, making it difficult for the RPF to crack down on them.
RPF statistics show 129 touts were arrested and 115 cases booked in Bengaluru division since 2016.
Besides the city, Bengaluru division includes areas like Mandya, Marikuppam, Tumakuru, Dharma-puri (Tamil Nadu), Dharmavaram and Hindupur (Andhra Pradesh).
Police arrested 51 touts in 2016 and 52 in 2017. Between January and June this year, 26 touts were nabbed.
Sources said they were booked under section 143 of the Railways Act, produced at railway courts and most were released on bail.
Often functioning in the garb of travel operators, these touts use unauthorised software to book tickets and sell them at a premium, said RPF officials.
“These agents use multiple personal IDs to book etickets and operate from different parts of the state. We could conduct raids based on reliable information, but we are not receiving many complaints. We approach them posing as passengers, but most of them now operate through WhatsApp and accept bookings only through references,” said a senior RPF official in Bengaluru division.

Meanwhile, a proposal to set up a cyber cell for the RPF to crack down on touts has not taken off so far. “We rely on IRCTC’s internet ticket antifraud team for investigating cases. It is difficult to understand the software and technical details involved in e-touting because of lack of expertise,” said another RPF official.
Many passengers have been complaining about difficulties in getting tickets, particularly tatkal during weekends and festival season. “When we wait in vain at reservation counters from early morning or find it difficult to get online tickets, how are these agents getting them without hassles? They charge about Rs 500 per ticket in addition to the fare, but passengers have no other alternative,” said S Manjunath, a passenger.
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About the Author
Christin Mathew Philip

Christin Mathew Philip is a Principal Correspondent with The Times of India, Bengaluru. He writes on urban mobility and traffic issues. He is the winner of Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism award (2015) for his reporting on civic issues in Chennai. He worked in TOI Chennai (2011-2016) before moving to The New Indian Express, Bengaluru in 2016.

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