Booking Tatkal Tickets without ID: Good News for Touts, not People

New system allowing railway tickets to be booked without providing ID proof will only encourage touts.

Thumbs Down to Tatkal

• Only advantage of new system of booking of Tatkal tickets is that it saves some effort on part of the passenger
• Very system of Tatkal flawed, hundreds of berths cannot be blocked and then sold at a higher rate
• Airlines, unlike the Railways set apart cheap seats which are sold first for early birds
• Rules of the Railways are very complicated and lack transparency

From September 1, one does not have to carry one’s ID while booking Tatkal tickets. However while travelling, one must carry a photo ID as usual.

There are two advantages with the latest move. Earlier, the passenger used to send a messenger who had to stand in queue, with the photostat copy of his ID. Now copy of the Id is not required. Secondly, one can now carry any ID while travelling as opposed to earlier where the passenger had to carry the same ID with which the ticket was booked. Yes, it is a convenience for internet users. With internet penetration at 19% in India, this is not much of an advantage. But it is hard to believe that Railways did it to suit the convenience of passengers.

Why did the Railways in the first place insist on showing an ID while booking? The reason given was to avoid touts and travel agents. The genuity of the passenger can be verified with the ID used while booking the ticket. There is some logic in this.

Giving Leeway to Touts

Now why are they doing away with ID while booking? Have they become suddenly passenger-friendly which they were not earlier? The Railways alone can answer.

What will happen now? Travel agents will benefit hugely as most people live far away from booking counters. They only have to make a phone call to the travel agent. The travel agents stand in the queue and book tickets.

Is anything wrong with that? Nothing if it stops with that.

There is a mad rush for Tatkal tickets. During festival seasons, tickets sell out in minutes. The travel agents call up the reservation clerks, tell them the names and other details and tickets are booked. The extra charged from the passengers is shared.

Secondly, Tatkal opens only at 10 am (AC Class) and is sold out soon. Travel agents patronise touts who sell tickets in the queue. They get Rs.20 and agents get Rs.80 and passenger pays Rs.100 more. If one can get a ticket saving hours of travel and without waiting in the queue, Rs.100 or Rs.250 more is not much. Passengers who cannot afford travel agents suffer. All men are not equal before Railways. Is the lobby of the travel agents stronger?

Flawed Concept of Tatkal

The very concept of Tatkal is unethical. You cannot block hundreds of berths, create a demand and sell them at a higher rate. This is what onion merchants do, hoard onions to sell them at higher rates. It is a punishable offence. But railways call it ‘for the convenience of passengers’.

The hypocrisy and manipulative skills of the Railway Bureaucracy works at their best  when it describes Tatkal scheme. It says “With a view to  provide to these passengers who have to undertake  journey at short notice and to save such passengers from the clutches of unscrupulous elements/touts, Tatkal Reservation Scheme was introduced in December 1997.”

First they allow touts and to save you from touts, they do not remove touts. But they introduce Tatkal and enrich themselves making touts happy in the process. The percentage of Tatkal berths in a given train is not fixed and is variable and there are no separate ear-marked coaches as promised.

Complex ways of Bureaucracy

Railways are doing the reverse of what airlines do. Airlines set apart cheap seats which are sold first for early birds. The late comers are milked. Here the costliest seats are set apart and latecomers are patronised and early birds have to make do with fewer seats. Contrast the competitive and monopolistic situations.

In the premium Suvidha trains, buying a ticket (minimum three times more) will give you a shock. This is often called “Premium Tatkal trains by passengers”. The counter clerk tells you the fare is Rs.516. He warns you the fare might change. Once he prints the ticket, you find you have to pay Rs.1300!

Even between trains doing the same distance, Tatkal fare differs. From Tiruchi to Chennai by Rockfort Express, the side lower (SL) berth in Tatkal costs Rs.305 while the Tiruchi- Chennai ticket in Mangalore Express, costs Rs.375. They make a distinction between an originating train and a passing train.

Just as their accounts, Railways rules are very complicated with no transparency. Inscrutable are the ways of our Railway Bureaucracy. We need a strong-willed Railway Minister to make Railway functioning transparent and fair.

(The writer is Secretary, Consumer Protection Council, Tamil Nadu)