RailEnquiry

Citizens seeking Tatkal tickets at Patna Junction reservation counters often have to return empty-handed because touts to lap them up within minutes. Railway officials claimed that they could hardly do anything to check the menace. Residents who need to buy last-minute tickets turn up at the station very early ' some as early as 5am ' though the counter opens not before 8 in the morning. While they wait around outside the gates, a gang of around 65 touts joins them. It is impossible for you and I to recognise the touts, as they make every effort to be discreet. The gates of the station open at 6.30am. Immediately, there is a rush towards the reservation counters on the first floor. The citizens hurriedly look for requisition forms and hasten to get a spot in the line in front of the counters. Most people fill up the forms standing, fearing they would lose their place in the queue if they move out. "If I move out to fill the form, someone else will take my place," said Dinesh Singh, who had come to purchase Tatkal tickets on Wednesday. He added: "I have to go to Delhi for my nephew's wedding this weekend. If I don't get a ticket today (Wednesday), I won't be able to go." While genuine ticket seekers wait, the touts position themselves around the 21 counters. The railway clerks enter the station premises around 7.30am, and there is immediately a flurry of activity near the counters. Team of touts (see graphics) try to elbow their way to the front of the queue. When the genuine ticket seekers object, an altercation ensues. As the quarrel reaches a high pitch, one of the senior touts, pretending to be a peace-loving ticket seeker, intervenes. "Why are you fighting? Everyone here wants a ticket. Let him (fellow tout) take the ticket first." Grudgingly, the genuine ticket seeker, who has been waiting from dawn, allows the bullying tout to go before him. But it is a calamitous mistake ' all available tickets are sold out within 10 minutes. "I have been coming here for the past three days but I have not been able to get a ticket. I don't understand how these people suddenly turn up and force their way through," said Nilesh Ranjan, a student who had come to buy a ticket to Bangalore. Touts often sell Tatkal tickets to passengers for around Rs 500 each. At railway counters, one person can buy tickets for only four people. Railway officials expressed helplessness. "There is no way to stop such a menace. Unemployment has increased so much in the country that youths have taken to crime," said A.K. Rajak, the senior divisional commercial manager of Danapur division. He added: "Railway clerks are not gods. They can't distinguish between touts and ticket seekers. Railway Protection Force cannot keep constant vigil either."