Booking Tatkal Ticket? Doing this set to cost you dear; Indian Railways plans Rs 2 lakh penalty

Indian Railways is not just improving its infrastructure, but it is also working on plugging the loopholes to stop misuse of its facilities. How many times has it happened to you that you try to book a tatkal ticket but could not get a confirmed ticket? A majority of us will say that it has happened many times.

Besides the slow website speed, another reason for this is scamsters. Remember the incident in which the Central Railway had arrested a man in Mumbai on May 2. He allegedly used a fake software to help touts book Tatkal tickets in just a matter of seconds. With the help of the software, he earned over Rs 35 lakh a month.

In another case, a CBI official and his companion allegedly manipulated Tatkal ticket reservation system of the railways through an illegal software. The matter had come to light in December last year.

However, the railways is now mulling stricter penalties for e-ticketing frauds. It is likely to amend Railways Act, 1989 to include a provision of penalising those committing e-ticketing frauds. The present act does not envision e-ticket frauds, but does have a provision to punish those touts who illegally sell, purchase or attempts to sell or purchase tickets, reported PTI.

The proposed amendment has suggested a fine of more than Rs 2 lakh for the offence, from current fine of up to Rs 10,000.

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The report claims that the amended Act will seek to empower the authorised personnel of the RPF, commercial, vigilance departments to deal with cases related to the new provision.

Currently, those arrested for online frauds are booked under the Information and Technology Act along with relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

The proposal also includes hike in fines for causing nuisance, specially against women passengers and encroachment of compartments reserved for people with disabilities or women and littering.