7th PAY COMMISSION NEWS - CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS

Tatkal booking extended to passenger trains… Ministry of Railways Decides to Introduce Tatkal Scheme in Passenger Trains The Tatkal scheme was initially introduced in 1997 with a view to provide reservation to those passengers who have to undertake journey at short notice and to save such passengers from the clutches of unscrupulous elements/touts. At present, this scheme is available in almost all Mail/Express trains and in all reserved classes except First Class and First AC Class. Ministry of Railways has now decided to introduce Tatkal scheme in reserved classes of passenger trains also. The Tatkal scheme in the passenger trains will be available in the reserved classes (2nd AC, 3rd AC, 3rd AC Economy, Chair Class, Sleeper Class and 2nd reserved sitting). For this purpose, Zonal Railways will identify the passenger trains and earmark Tatkal accommodation in that train/class in which average utilization during the previous financial year has been more than 60%. The extent of acc...

Tatkal Accommodation in different classes of Trains… Maximum Tatkal accommodation which can be earmarked in a train. Powers for earmarking of Tatkal accommodation in different classes have been delegated to Zonal Railways. Keeping in view the utilization pattern in the class of travel during the previous financial year and availability of accommodation, the Tatkal accommodation is earmarked in the  zonal Railways subject to maximum as under:- Classes Maximum Tatkal accommodation which can be earmarked in a train Executive Class 5 seats per coach 2 AC 10 Berths Per Coach 3 AC 16 Berths Per Coach AC Chair Car 16 Seats Per Coach SL 30% of the accommodation Reserved Second Sitting (2S) 10% of the accommodation

Misuse of Tatkal Tickets : Checks are also conducted in trains against travelling on transferred ticket, Minister of State for Railways said in the Parliament as a written reply to a question on 15.3.2013. Railways Conduct Checks to Prevent Misuse of Tatkal Tickets Under Tatkal Scheme, tickets are sold only to genuine passengers on production of self attested photocopy of one of the prescribed proofs of identity. While booking Tatkal tickets through internet, the details of the specific proof of identity have to be indicated. The passenger has to carry the same in original during travel. Further, Tatkal scheme has been rationalized and a number of modifications have been made with a view to avoid misuse of Tatkal scheme, which include no refund on cancellation of confirmed Tatkal tickets, non-issue of duplicate Tatkal ticket under normal circumstances, change of timings of opening of booking of Tatkal tickets, etc. To check the cornering of seats by touts in connivance with rail...

Deduction of extra money from passengers on tickets booked through IRCTC Website...! The above doubt has been raised in the Parliament, the concerned minister replied that there is no difference to offer ticket amount between through Passenger Reservation System (PRS) and IRCTC website… “Fare for tickets purchased from the Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters and for tickets booked on-line through the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) website is uniform. However, an additional service charge is levied by IRCTC and the relevant Payment Gateway charges are collected by the banks/payment gateway service providers on the tickets booked on-line through the IRCTC website. A nominal service charge of Rs.10/- per PNR for e-ticket issued for Sleeper & reserved Second Sitting (2S) and Rs.20/- per PNR for e-tickets in other classes is charged. The service charge realized is used to meet administrative cost, maintenance cost of IT hardware & software, tech...

Revised timing for booking Tatkal Tickets from 19.7.2012 One more good decision taken by Railways… Due to avoid booking from agents and touts, the Indian Railways has now changed the booking timing for Tatkal tickets from 19th July, 2012. Indian Railways have been regularly monitoring the activities of the agents, touts. On a average of around 15 lakh train tickets are being sold through 8838 passenger reservation ticket counters and the e-ticketing website through IRCTC, out of which the Tatkal tickets constitutes around 1.70 lakh. As per the amendment in the Tatkal scheme, booking will start only at 10 A.M. instead of 8 A.M. For example, if a train is to depart from the originating station on the 2nd of the month, the Tatkal quota booking both through Internet (IRCTC Website) and reservation counters for that particular train shall open at 1000 hours on the 1st of the month. In addition, it has also been decided that no authorised agents, including agents of IRCTC and RTSAs/RTAs will...