Title - Tout menace at Visakhapatnam station leaves passengers ticketless

VISAKHAPATNAM: Touts are ruling at the current reservations counter (CRC) of Vizag railway station. The touts, with the alleged involvement of some railway staffers and licensed porters, are cornering current tickets and selling them at a premium to passengers waiting anxiously to travel.

A few months ago, a railway official was booked for colluding with touts at MVP Colony satellite reservation counter.

As per railway rules, a reserved ticket can be booked through passenger reservation counters across the country as well as through internet only up to the time of preparation of reservation charts. After the charts are prepared, the berths available, if any, can be booked at the CRC at major stations including Vizag.

According to reliable sources at the Vizag station, touts with the help of railway staff, right from ticket booking clerks to travelling ticket examiners (TTE), reportedly earn on an average Rs 4,000 to 10,000 each per day (depending on the demand) by selling the vacant berths to passengers at a premium price by misusing the CRC facility.

"The touts misuse nearly 40 to 50 tickets per day at the CRC. The illegal practice is rampant during festive seasons and vacations when passengers are desperate for the tickets. They mainly work during night hours as it is easy to hoodwink enforcement sleuths," a source said.

Misuse of CRC by touts is extensive in nearly 20 key trains out of 75 in a day to various parts of the country, particularly Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, New Delhi, Vijayawada and Tirupati.

Some of the other trains where genuine passengers face problems procuring tickets at the CRC are Bhubaneswar-Mumbai-Bhubaneswar Konark Express, Poori-Tirupati Express, Bhubaneswar-Secunderabad Visakha Express, Howrah-Secunderabad Falaknuma Superfast, Garibrath between Visakhapatnam-Secunderabad, Duranto non-stop between Visakhapatnam-Secunderabad from the Vizag Railway Station.

Revealing a bitter experience he had while trying to purchase a ticket for 7479 Poori-Tirupati a few days ago, an Andhra University employee said: "I stood in a long queue at the CRC but could not get a ticket. Finally, I got it illegally through a licensed porter on the train."

Railway Zone Sadhana Samiti convener JV Satyannarayana Murthy said the railway authorities should take effective steps to check touts or brokers at booking counters meant for genuine railway travellers. "Unlike monthly or annual raids, they have to continuously monitor such practices where some railway staff members are also involved," Murthy pointed out.

Admitting to the flourishing tout nuisance despite enforcement drives, Waltair divisional railway manager Anil Kumar said they were making all possible efforts to check the fraud. "I agree that touts are making things tough for passengers. We have so far raided satellite counters and caught some unscrupulous elements. We will keep a close watch on the CRC," he said.

It is learnt that the railway authorities have introduced a biometric system at a few select stations in the country to put an end to the tout menace. Passengers have to give his or her left hand thumb impression before purchasing a ticket from the authorized counter. Once a person purchases a ticket, his/ her identity gets registered in the system, and if the same person purchases tickets more than twice in a day, the rail reservation system will refuse to issue tickets.

"The biometric system was introduced on an experimental basis at some stations but we have not received any instructions from our superiors to extend the system here," Anil Kumar clarified.