Ticket to ride is out of reach

The modus operandi reflects how well-entrenched the nexus is. Revealed a source, “Each travel agent gives Rs 1,000 per month to the regular railway staff at counters to book tickets in advance for their `clients’ under benami names. The role of the touts and others is to sell the tickets in the `open market.” Many agents reportedly also rope in boys ingroups of 25, who take leading positions in queues with the help of security officials and corner a major chunk of the confirmed tickets. Thus they manage to bypass the `token number system’, set up to prevent illegal block bookings of tickets.

This explains how despite overnight stays at reservation counters by genuine travellers, tickets, specially during peak travelling seasons, get miraculously sold out within an hour itself. The going rates this season are reportedly between Rs 200 and 250 per ticket.

Witness the scene at the Virar reservation counter. “If you pay Rs 600 per application form for six passengers, your ticket will be ensured”, suggested one agent to this reporter. Complained an irate commuter: “I slept here overnight to get a confirmed ticket, but when I reached the counter, I could get only a waiting list above 200.”

Here, there are exactly three computer terminals for reservations and the nexus ensures that tickets are given to the `clients’ before genuine travellers. Railwayofficials, of course, deny any such goings-on. “Even our staffers have to stand in the queue for tickets. Some friends and relatives may have bought the tickets through the booking staff”, reasoned an official. However, a railway police official, preferring anonymity, said even senior railway officials distribute `signed’ forms to signal to the booking staff to be given “proper consideration”. Efforts by the railway vigilance department to break the nexus are thwarted by tip-offs from the railway security force. Those in the business reportedly make a minimum of Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 per day, at the rate of Rs 5 per ticket. Railway police officials pocket at least Rs 4,000 per day.

Added the source, “While big agents are active throughout the year, the small fry becomes active during vacations, as the demand is high. Each boy manages to make Rs 4,500 a month. The gang’s `group leader’ gets between Rs 900 and Rs 1200 per day during this season. The boys are also given food and other allowances.” Womenalso work towards attracting clients to buy tickets booked by the boys. At the Mumbai Central reservation counter, such women are even given a sobriquet: `Dilliwalas.

At Andheri, some boys even earn up to Rs 10,000 a month, said one boy who used to work for an agent. “My boss used to bail me out whenever I was caught, even paying up small fines. But after I was caught during a railway vigilance raid, I decided to stop this business,” he added.