Lok Sabha Question No. 4029 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-07-17
Subject: e-Ticketing Touts
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Jai Prakash

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4029 TO BE ANSWERED ON 17.07.2019

## E-TICKETING TOUTS

## †4029. SHRI JAI PRAKASH:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether despite several claims, e-tickets of railway is under the occupation of touts;
- (b) if so, the reasons therefor;
- (c) if not, the number of touts nabbed during the last two years along with the number of e-tickets recovered from them; and
- (d) the action taken against them?

ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

- (a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (d)  OF UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  4029  BY  SHRI  JAI  PRAKASH  TO  BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 17.07.2019 REGARDING E-TICKETING TOUTS

- (a) & (b): During rush period like festivals, summer vacations, holidays etc. when demand exceeds availability, some instances of attempt to misuse reservation system do come to notice. However, in order to prevent  the  activities  of  unscrupulous  elements  including  touts, several  checks  have  been  deployed  by  Indian  Railway  Catering  and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) including the following:
- i. Creation of only one IRCTC User ID on a given mobile number and email ID.
- ii. Setting  a  limit  of  booking  6  Railway  tickets  by  an  individual user  in  a  month.  This  limit  has  been  revised  to  12  Railway tickets in a month for those individual users who have linked their IRCTC user ID with their respective Aadhaar number and ensured that at least one of the passengers in the passenger list is verifiable through Aadhaar.
- iii. Checking of User IDs on daily basis and deactivation of those IDs  found  using  malpractices  like  fast  booking  of  tickets. Around 1.26 lakh user IDs have been deactivated from 1 st  April 2018 to 31 st  May 2019.
- iv. Checking of Tatkal tickets booked in first minute for frivolous users on daily basis and cancellation/release of such tickets on suspicion.
- v. Only one booking in one user login session except for return/ onward journey between 0800 and 1200 hours.

- vi. Checks  applied  on  minimum  time  required  to  enter  the passenger  details  and  displayed  CAPTCHA  at  the  time  of  eticket booking by users.
- vii. Restriction  on  authorized  agents  of  IRCTC  for  booking tickets  during  first  fifteen  minutes  of  opening  of  Advance Reservation Period (ARP) booking and Tatkal booking.

(c):  Regular  checks  are  conducted  in  mass  contact  areas  such  as Passenger Reservation System (PRS) centres, booking offices, platforms,  trains  etc.  to  prevent  unauthorized  ticketing  activities including the use  of scripting software.  Such  checks  are  also intensified during peak period like festivals, holidays etc. The number of touts arrested along with number of e-tickets recovered from them during the last two years is as under:-

|   Year |   Number of touts arrested |   Total number of e-tickets recovered |
|--------|----------------------------|---------------------------------------|
|   2017 |                       1261 |                                 11500 |
|   2018 |                       2391 |                                 78001 |

(d):  Unauthorized carrying on of business of procuring and supplying of  railway  tickets  is  a  punishable  offence  under  Section  143  of  the Railways  Act,  1989.  The  persons  found  involved  in  such  illegal activities  are  punished  as  per  extant  legal  provisions  laid  down  in Section 143 of the Railways Act, 1989.

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