Lok Sabha Question No. 3653 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-17
Subject: Illegal e-Ticketing
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Pankaj Chowdhary

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3653 TO BE ANSWERED ON 17.03.2021

## ILLEGAL E-TICKETING

- † 3653.  SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) the zone-wise number of cases in respect of illegal business of etickets in Railways that have come  to the notice of the Government during 2019-2020;
- (b) whether the Government proposes to take any effective steps to check this illegal business of e-tickets; and
- (c) if so, the measures being taken to make IRCTC website more safe and secure?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMERCE & INDUSTRY AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

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

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STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a) TO (c) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3653 BY SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY TO BE ANSWERED  IN  LOK  SABHA  ON  17.03.2021  REGARDING  ILLEGAL  ETICKETING

- (a):  The zone-wise details of number of cases registered for touting of etickets over Indian Railways during the last two years i.e. 2019 & 2020, are appended.
- (b)  and  (c):    In  order  to  curb  e-ticketing  malpractices,  a  number  of preventive and punitive measures have been taken by Indian Railways. Some  of  the  important  initiatives  taken  in  this  regard,  to  make  IRCTC reservation website, foolproof are as under:
- (i) Instructions have been issued to ensure that tickets are not booked on  abbreviated  names  and  full  name  of  the  passenger  and  the surname wherever applicable are captured at the time of booking reserved tickets.
- (ii) Carrying of prescribed identity proof has been made compulsory for one of the passengers while undertaking journey in reserved class.
- (iii) 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.
- (iv) In case of online booking of tickets, checks have been applied on minimum time required to enter the passenger details and CAPTCHA and no ticket can be booked before 35 seconds.  User IDs are checked on daily basis and those IDs found using malpractices like fast booking of tickets are deactivated.
- (v) The authorized agents of IRCTC have been restricted from booking tickets during first fifteen minutes of opening the Advance Reservation Period (ARP) booking and Tatkal booking.

- (vi) General  public  are  also  educated  through  Public  Address  System and  media,  not  to  buy  tickets  from  unscrupulous  elements  and consequences of buying tickets from these sources.
- (vii) Restrictions  have  been  put  on  creation  of  IRCTC  user  ID  and booking of tickets per user.
- (viii) Dynamic CAPTCHA has been introduced at registration,  login  and booking page.
- (ix) Multilayer security & regular audits by Standardization Testing and Quality Certification (STQC).
- (x) A limit of booking 6 Railway tickets by an individual user in a month has  been  set  in  case  of  booking  from  Indian  Railway  Catering  and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) portal. 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 number.
- (xi) Regular drives are being conducted by RPF against persons/agencies  found  involved  in  unauthorized  carrying  on  of business of procuring and supplying of railway tickets. The offenders are booked under section 143 of the Railways Act. Cases having wider ramifications and involving ingredients of other offences are being dealt in coordination with other law enforcement agencies like Police & CBI.
- (xii) Use  of  PRABAL  query  based  application  for  verification  of  IRCTC IDs to detect the cases of illegal E-ticketing with follow up action.

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APPENDIX  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  OF  UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3653 BY SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 17.03.2021 REGARDING ILLEGAL E-TICKETING

(a): The zone-wise details of number of cases registered for touting of etickets over Indian Railways during the last two years i.e. 2019 & 2020, are as under:-

| Zonal Railway      |   Number of cases for touting of e-tickets registered |   Number of cases for touting of e-tickets registered |
|--------------------|-------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------|
|                    |                                                  2019 |                                                  2020 |
| Central            |                                                   293 |                                                   406 |
| Eastern            |                                                   250 |                                                   221 |
| East Central       |                                                    90 |                                                   287 |
| East Coast         |                                                   126 |                                                    97 |
| Northern           |                                                   363 |                                                   731 |
| North Central      |                                                   200 |                                                   207 |
| North Eastern      |                                                   243 |                                                   241 |
| Northeast Frontier |                                                    38 |                                                    82 |
| North Western      |                                                   143 |                                                   119 |
| Southern           |                                                   286 |                                                   315 |
| South Central      |                                                   209 |                                                   275 |
| South Eastern      |                                                   244 |                                                    93 |
| South East Central |                                                   235 |                                                   177 |
| South Western      |                                                    87 |                                                   172 |
| Western            |                                                   527 |                                                   744 |
| West Central       |                                                   182 |                                                   184 |

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