Break the nexus among clerks, agents, touts and police

To revamp the Tatkal scheme by Railways, the best move would be break the strong nexus among booking clerks, railway ticket agents, touts, the rail officials concerned with Tatkal scheme and the police instead of changing Tatkal ticket booking time from 8 AM to 10 AM will not improve the situation. From 10th of July, reservation of tatkal tickets will start from 10 am instead of 8 am and no authorised agents will be allowed to book them during the first two hours. At present, booking for both general and tatkal tickets open at 8 am, not only chocking e-ticketing sites but also triggering to long queues in reservation counters.At present, tatkal scheme is available in around 2677 trains which translates to around 1.71 lakh berths.In 2011-12, earning from the scheme stood at Rs 847 crore. The installation of CCTV cameras at ticket booking window to see irregularity is a good measure but the most important thing is to act against irregularities immediately. On this count, the railway officials have failed completely. Railways started the Tatkal scheme for the benefit of passengers in time of emergency when they have to travel immediately from one city to another and train is the only way of conveyance. But in reality, the tickets under Tatkal scheme rarely reached to the genuine passengers. They are booked the moment ticket window is opened and no room message started displaying on the computer screen. This is because of the connivance of ticket booking clerks, agents, touts and police. Though the railways have earned good amount of money through Tatkal scheme, touts, agents, booking clerks and police have also made handsome amount of money. And in between them, the genuine railway passengers who need ticket through tatakal scheme have suffered most. If the railways had made enough preparations to check any kind of malpractice in advance and they were really concerned with the plight of genuine passengers, this sort of mess would not have taken place. It is correct that the demand of ticket is very high and the supply is very low. But that does not mean that railways should leave its employee to make money out of Tatkal tickets. Ticket booking clerks have direct connection with authorized ticket agents and touts. The agents send their men and touts are already there around railway ticket counter who whisk away the genuine ticket seekers by creating a melee and chaos there and grab all tickets under Tatkal scheme. The Police who are deputed at the railway ticket windows to keep watch on any illegal activities remain mute spectators because they also take their share from them. If the news paper reports are anything to go by, these activities take place in broad day light right under the nose of high railway officials. Do the high railway authorities keep their eyes shut? Do they not read news papers reports that how Tatkal tickets found their ways to black market and they are sold at exorbitant rate?