Indian Railways working to link Aadhaar to online ticketing platform to control illegal buying

File image: A railway police official makes an announcement on a loudspeaker asking commuters to stand inside the designated circles to maintain physical distancing as they wait to board a train at a railway station in Mumbai, India on June 22, 2020. (Image: Reuters/Francis Mascarenhas)

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) is working to link personal identification like Aadhaar cards, driving licenses, etc with online ticketing platforms in order to control the illegal buying of railway tickets in the country.

The Director-General of the Railway Protection Force Arun Kumar on June 25 said that since 2018 around 14,257 touts have been arrested till May 2021 and around Rs 28.34 crore worth of tickets have been seized from them. A tout is a person who buys up tickets to resell them at a profit.

"Customers will have to attach one of their identity cards like an Aadhaar card or passport in order to log in and buy tickets on online platforms," Kumar said.

Following the aftermath of COVID-19 a majority of the Indian Railways' tickets are booked through online platforms. The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp Ltd handled around 900,000 bookings per day in February and March before the aftermath of the second wave of the pandemic.

He added that the RPF is working towards upgrading its surveillance systems at railway stations across the country and is also looking to come out with a mobile application soon, where customers can file complaints such as theft, harassment, illegal stoppages, etc.

A composite Rail Safety Mobile App of Indian Railways has been prepared, which will make it possible to report crimes committed in trains.

Kumar added that RPF officers have been a part of the frontline workers in the fight against COVID-19 and before the outbreak of the second wave of the pandemic in the country around 90 percent of the officers were vaccinated with the first dose of the vaccine.

Till now around 98 percent of all RFP officers have been vaccinated with the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, Kumar said.

In the second wave of COVId 3,298 RPF officers were infected by the disease, out of which 22 people died and currently about 150 are admitted to the hospitals. Only 0.045 percent of the jawans who got vaccinated fell ill.