EVER TRIED booking your railway tickets on the Internet under the tatkal scheme, in this heavily packed holiday season? You will only end up being disappointed because as soon as the clock strikes eight in the morning, the railway site starts showing this message: ‘service temporarily unavailable’. Railway officials blame it on the heavy traffic on the site. But, is it merely that simple? The scene at the ticket windows isn’t any better. People queue up for tatkal tickets right from midnight at most stations. Most of these men are private agents who work in a nexus with the ticket vendors. The owner of a popular ticketing agency (name withheld), which has its office right in front of CST, reveals, “We get about 500 orders per day for getting reservations and more than 50 per cent is for tatkal seats. My agents make sure to stand first in the queue in the morning so that we get maximum tatkal seats. We have a setting with the vendors and that helps too.”
The situation has worsened as summer time is the peak of rush season. According to the figures, 35 per cent of the entire Mumbai population travels during the summers. “It is largely due to the fact that kids have their vacation at this time of the year,” explains A K Jain, PRO, Central Railways. People who suffer most are the ones who have to plan their trip in an emergency. Avanish Sinha, employee of a private bank, has been making rounds of CST reservation counter from the last six days, but in vain. “I have been trying to get my ticket in the tatkal scheme since a week. The Internet doesn’t work and the ticket windows are always crowded by rouges and agents. By the time I reach the window, the seats are all full,” he laments.
Tehseen Munnawar, media consultant to the Railway Minister, however, argues, “It is not fair to see foul in the system. Obviously, the net traffic is so heavy that the site gets slow. Imagine the load it takes at eight O’clock every morning. Moreover, there are innumerous ticket windows across the country but only limited seats in tatkal so it is bound to fill up in a few minutes.” On the other hand, Rajesh Saxena, director, Vigilance, Ministry of Railways, Government of India, assures, “If at all someone finds fault with the system, one can lodge a complaint to me and I will make sure the matter is investigated properly. Though, I am pretty sure, the railways work fair in our country.”
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