Advance sales of ticket are meant to ease its
distribution among the passengers in good time for them to undertake their journeys. But things do not work out the way one expects these to be.
Most of the times a large number of tickets would have been sold out before the appointed date leaving the genuine people who spend hours in the queue only to return empty handed. It is some vested quarters and black marketers who in connivance with the men behind the ticket selling counters buy up large number of tickets to be released at higher prices, more overtly than covertly.
The hapless passengers are forced to buy tickets at marked-up prices and are thus fleeced at a time when they have had other bills to foot. It is cheating compounded by inconvenience.
The government and the railway authorities can minimize the sufferings if they work out a modality to minimize the suffering of the people and streamline the sales operation. That is what they are for.
A demand assessment should be carried out anticipating the number of traveling passengers as this will ensure availability of tickets on a wider scale without hassle. Usually, extra coaches for trains, additional buses and launches are made available but the benefits hardly ever filter through to the targeted groups. May be the government should make an announcement of the arrangements and procedure to obtain tickets well before the scheduled dates of sales and operations.
The sale of tickets at the counters of the railway, bus and launch terminals should be strictly monitored so that unscrupulous people don't make inroads into the system and block bookings by the vested quarters are restricted.