Special Railway Protection Force

Special Railway Protection Force teams to crack down on touts

Three days after TOI began a campaign highlighting the difficulties faced by passengers trying to book Tatkal tickets — touts crowding booking counters and online portals not being the least — the Railway Protection Force (RPF) has set up two special teams to crack down on the fraudsters.

Given the summer rush, policing will be stepped up at stations — particularly ticketing offices — to swoop down on unauthorized vendors and ticket canvassers.

“The intensified checks by the Delhi division led to the arrest of 73 people involved in canvassing tickets, hotels and taxis in the three days since TOI highlighted the problem,” said divisional railway manager (Delhi) Anurag Sachan.

Sachan also admitted that CCTVs in the reservation complex had been made operational only since the reports were published. The DRM said he was personally monitoring the renewed checks and had conducted a surprise check at the IRCA reservation complex in Paharganj. “During this check, the CCTV monitoring room on the second floor was made functional. To further improve monitoring through the CCTV network, I have ordered RPF staff to man the control room round the clock. I have also directed them to provide the CCTV camera feed to the local RPF inspector for continuous supervision of the ticket hall and other passengers interface areas of the IRCA complex,” said Sachan.

The Government Railway Police (GRP) has launched its own drive to take on the touts.