Inconsistency in Tatkal bookings

Inconsistency in Tatkal bookings

Irregularities in Tatkal bookings

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
RAJYA SABHA

QUESTION NO 2049

ANSWERED ON 03.08.2018

Irregularities in Tatkal bookings

2049 Shri T.G. Venkatesh
Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state :-
(a) whether it is a fact that irregularities are taking place on a large scale in Tatkal bookings by way of illegal software;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether Government has initiated any investigation into the use of such illegal software and if so, the details thereof; and

(d) the action taken by Government on unscrupulous elements along with the protection methods adopted to ward off such incidents in future?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI RAJEN GOHAIN)

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

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2049 BY SHRI T.G. VENKATESH ANSWERED IN RAJYA SABHA ON 03.08.2018 REGARDING IRREGULARITIES IN TATKAL BOOKINGS.

(a) to (d) : No, Sir. It is not correct to state that large scale irregularities are taking place in Tatkal booking due to illegal software. Railways have already taken various steps to reduce the scope of misuse of Tatkal scheme by unscrupulous elements. However, during checks conducted by the Railways three cases of use of illegal (scripting) software for booking of tickets on the website of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) were detected and cases have been registered against the culprits.

The matter was examined and it was found that the software does not breach any security arrangement done by IRCTC and facilitates booking by feeding the details in automated manner.

However, a number of validation checks for booking of tickets in opening ARP (Advance Reservation Period) under General Quota, Tatkal Quota and Premium Quota have been implemented on www.irctc.co.in. Till date, no case has been observed which has by-passed the minimum time check for booking.

In addition to the checks already available viz. staggered timings for booking Tatkal in Air Conditioned and non-Air Conditioned classes, restricting authorised ticketing agents from booking Tatkal tickets during first 30 minutes of opening of booking, restriction on number of tickets to be booked, regular security audit by Standardization Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, etc., some other changes that have been incorporated in NGeT (Next Generation e Ticketing) application are as under:

i. Random Security questions have been implemented for Tatkal and premium Tatkal booking.
ii. Variable minimum time check has been implemented at passenger input and payment process during peak time.
iii. Dynamic variable for user ID and password has been implemented.
iv. Blocking of Foreign IP(Internet Protocol) addresses at peak time has been done at network level.