191 TOUTS, 7 UNAUTHORIZED TRAVEL AGENCIES, 75 CASES OF TRANSFER OF TICKETS APPREHENDED DURING INTENSIVE CHECKS FROM 7TH MARCH TO 9TH JUNE 2014

Zeroing o­n the activity of touting and unauthorized ticketing agency was a key thrust of the Vigilance Department of Northern Railway during the current Summer Rush period (7^th March 2013 to 9^th June 2013). Stepping up its vigilance regimen, the Railway organized a special drive and carried out intensive checks at all major locations over the Railway. Through the multi-pronged strategy of preventive and decoy checks, the Vigilance department was able to apprehend 191 touts (including 74 unauthorized vendors) & 7 unauthorized travel agents were apprehended in the station premises and detect 75 TOT (Transfer of Tickets) cases realizing an amount of Rs. 76,065/- from them. Marking a total of 1105 preventive checks in mass contact areas i.e. at PRS centres, booking offices, platforms & trains etc., the team notched several significant achievements to nab collusion of staff besides uncovering anomalies in loading of Parcel Vans etc.

The principal areas of special focus besides checks against touts, unauthorized travel agents also included checks to detect passengers travelling o­n transferred tickets purchased from unauthorized sources/agencies. In addition to these, checks were also carried out in Mass Contact Areas at PRS/Booking Centers, Platforms, Trains, Parcel offices and catering units etc. to detect malpractices in these areas. Some of the highlights of this persistent vigilance exercise during the current rush period are produced below:- 

 Special Intensive Ticket Checking Drive:

As part of the Special Summer Drive, a ‘Special Intensive Ticket Checking Drive’ was launched by forming 06 teams headed by two Vigilance Inspectors each, along with RPF staff and ticket checking staff of Northern Railway to detect irregular and ticketless travellers in unmanned coaches. A total of 95 ticket checking staff were involved in this drive and the drive covered 35 stations and 87 trains. The ticket checking drive registered a total of Rs.17,22,020/- (Rs. Seventeen Lakh Twenty Two thousand twenty) were collected as fare and penalty from this 24 hours drive.

Important Checks -- Some of the important & successful checks carried out during this drive are:

A preventive check was conducted at Tis Hazari PRS location. The government cash of the PRS staff was found short by Rs.12790/- and o­ne Tatkal ticket was also recovered from his possession valuing Rs.11,170/-. 05 touts were also apprehended from the same location.

During the scrutiny of collected UTS tickets from Chief Ticketing Inspector office/New Delhi, four tickets were detected having manipulation of fare & station. Details of these tickets were matched with details obtained from system and it was found that o­n all the four tickets manipulations were done in fare by JTBS of Muzaffarpur, East Coast Railway. He was issuing tickets for adjoining station having fare as Rs. 5/- and then manipulating the fare through overwriting & over imposing higher amount of Rs. 250/- o­n the tickets. By this manipulation o­nly Rs. 5/- were deposited in Railway account whereas after manipulation in fare, JTBS owner was pocketing Rs. 245/- illegally causing revenue loss to railways.

A preventive check was conducted o­n Rail Travel Sevice Agent (RTSA) counter at IRCA. A representative of a RTSA was found possessing 10 tickets prepared in continuation from the same counter between 0800 hrs to 0820 hrs. The requisition slips of these 10 tickets were having stamps of different RTSAs. Out of these 10 tickets, o­nly o­ne ticket was prepared o­n the requisition form having his RTSA’s stamp, rest 09 tickets  were prepared for different RTSAs. 26 PRS ticket valuing Rs. 66,480/- for cancellation & 08 Tatkal requisition forms were also recovered from his possession.

During a preventive check, it was detected that a Jansadharan Ticket Booking Sewak(JTBS) of Karol Bagh is operating as normal booking window instead of a JTBS and the sale generated was causing increase in station outstanding as he was not depositing any money in railway account. This was a major failure o­n the part of the station staff and a major fraud was detected.

A preventive check was conducted to detect overloading in a demand Parcel Van and an excess weight of 8188 kgs (35.6%) was detected and an undercharge of Rs. 3,04,570/- was realised.

Decoy Checks -- During this period a total of 30 decoy checks were conducted. Some of the major Decoy checks are as under:-

During a decoy check conducted o­n a RTSA of New Delhi 57 E-tickets & 3 PRS tickets were recovered and it was found that an Unauthorized Ticketing Agency(UTA) was running under the protection of the RTSA.

During another decoy check conducted o­n an UTA at Sultanpur, 36 e-tickets worth Rs. 34,081/- were recovered. It was found that the UTA was issuing e-tickets o­n personal ID instead of an agent’s ID.

In addition to intensive drives against Touts, UTA and in Mass Contact Areas, Northern Railway Vigilance undertook extensive public awareness drives through advertisements in print and news items in electronic media. People are cautioned against going to Touts, UTA and Travelling o­n TOT, through advertisements in National as well as in local dailies.

Northern Railway reiterates its appeal to general public to refrain from purchase of rail tickets from unauthorised agencies and touts. Unauthorized buying and selling of reserved tickets is an offence under Section 143 of the Railways Act. Passengers who buy tickets from unauthorized travel agents may lose both their tickets and the reserved accommodation, if such tickets are confiscated during raids.