Title - Minister's advice for travelling public to book their Tatkal tickets online and keep touts at bay

Union Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa today advised travelling public to book their Tatkal tickets online including from their mobile phones and keep touts at bay.

Speaking to newsmen after a review meeting with officers, he said the Indian Railways was doing its best to curb irregularities in Tatkal booking at railway counters. 'If people use their lap-tops and mobile phones more to book tickets the menace from touts exploiting travelling public can be eradicated,' he said.

Mr Muniyappa said the touts and agents have been restricted from buying Tatkal tickets from 0800 hrs to 1000 hrs at the counters which has curbed booking irregularities to an extent.

The Minister said of the total 3100 km railway line projects sanctioned for Karnataka, 940 km has been completed at a cost of Rs 4,730 crore. "The Railways share for these projects are to the tune of Rs 8,800 crore and that of Karnataka government is 4,200 crore," he added.

Stating that there are about 13 cost sharing projects having a length of 1,750 km in the state, he said the anticipated cost for completion of these projects was around Rs 11,000 crore.