Aadhaar must for Tatkal ticket booking on IRCTC from July 1

New Delhi: Starting July 1, only users authenticated with Aadhaar will be able to book Tatkal tickets through the IRCTC website and mobile app, the Ministry of Railways announced on Wednesday. From July 15 onwards, Aadhaar-based OTP verification will also become mandatory for all online Tatkal bookings.

For Tatkal tickets booked at Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters and through authorised agents, OTP authentication via the mobile number provided during booking will be required starting July 15. This step aims to curb misuse and ensure that only genuine passengers benefit from the scheme.

To further prevent bulk bookings during the critical first half-hour of Tatkal ticket availability, authorised agents of Indian Railways will be restricted from booking tickets during this window. For AC classes, bookings by agents are barred between 10:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., while for non-AC classes, the restriction applies from 11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

The changes are intended to increase transparency and fairness in the Tatkal booking system, the Ministry said. The Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) and IRCTC have been directed to implement the necessary system changes and notify all Zonal Railways and related departments.

Passengers are urged to ensure their Aadhaar is linked with their IRCTC profiles to avoid disruptions in booking. The Ministry stressed that these reforms are aimed at strengthening authentication, reducing misuse, and safeguarding the interests of legitimate travellers.

Indian Railways has recently intensified efforts to curb fraudulent bookings, deactivating 2.5 crore fake user IDs and flagging another 20 lakh accounts for verification. Investigations revealed that many of these accounts used disposable email addresses and bots to hoard tickets, which were later resold at inflated prices. IRCTC is now leveraging artificial intelligence tools to detect such activities in real time and ensure smoother, fairer access to tickets for genuine users.

With IANS inputs