Public want 50 per cent refund on Tatkal rail tickets: Survey

In an online survey called ‘Make Railways Better’ conducted by Local Circle in which over 1,50,000 participated, citizens have raised concerns over bribes taken by TTEs and misuse of emergency quota and sought it to be addressed. Approximately 63 per cent of the citizens surveyed have experienced or observed TTEs taking bribes for giving seats/ticketless travel. 

According to the survey, people want a transparent system for emergency and VIP seat allocation and guidelines be issued defining an emergency and a VIP. They have suggested this quota should be cut down by 75 per cent. 

Suggesting curb in tout involvement in ticketing, the survey has advocated for deployment GRP and RPF to keep a strict vigil on the stations and reservation counters to prevent tout operation beside installation of CCTV cameras strategically around the booking windows to deter unscrupulous elements in illegal ticketing. 

Respondents in the survey has suggested for 50 per cent refund should be given on Tatkal ticket cancellation six hours before departure and a quota for online Tatkal bookings should be introduced. 

There are also suggestions for allotment of lower/middle berths for senior citizens and women with kids. Citizens believe that the IRCTC website performance has improved and some of the tout leakages have been addressed in 2015, however, more citizen oriented policies, processes and systems are needed to make Railway Ticketing citizen oriented.