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Railways changes tatkal rules

In a bid to overcome the menace of touts and agents in booking railway tickets, especially under the tatkal scheme, the Ministry of Railways has decided to bar them from online ticketing for first two hours of the booking period.

A Railway Board release issued on Friday said, 'With effect from 10 July, booking of Tatkal ticket will start at 10 am on the previous day of journey from train originating station instead of 8 am at present. No authorised agents, including agents of IRCTC and RTSAs/RTAs will be allowed to book Tatkal tickets from 10 am to 1200 noon. The existing restriction of not allowing these agents booking of general tickets on the opening day from 8 am to 10 am will also continue.'

Faced with mounting complaints of misuse of tatkal scheme, Railways is also planning to have dedicated counters for selling tatkal tickets. Plans are afoot to keep a close watch on tatkal ticket seekers and making e-reservation more foolproof. 'Besides, we have decided to bar booking clerks from carrying mobiles to reservation counters,' said Northern Railway general manager V K Gupta, while other officers said the 'character of the tatkal scheme will be changed'.

At present, the tatkal scheme is available in around 2,677 trains, which translates into around 1.71 lakh berths. In 2011-12, earning from the scheme stood at Rs 847 crore.
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