Dear all,
You will perhaps recall my earlier mails regarding inaccessibility of the
Indian Railway reservation system specially the denial of concessional
online ticket booking for persons with disabilities. In this context, a
close friend Yogesh Taneja had filed a RTI with IRCTC - the agency which
operates the online reservation website. The scanned text of the reply
received from them is appended at the end.
The response from IRCTC is very negative and few legal activists on this
list are working on taking up this case at appropriate forums. Meanwhile,
there is a good news, I don't know what role this RTI application played
in
this but as of today, the totally inaccessible CAPTCHA has been withdrawn
from the online reservation form. Therefore, it is possible for visually
impaired to book tickets at least under general quota.
---- RTI response ----
INDIAN RAILWAY CATERING AND TOURISM CORPORATION LTD.
(A Govt. of India Enterprise)
No.2010/IRCTUERTD/RTI
Yogesh Taneja,
C/O Mr. Arvind Ashdhir. National Association for the Blind, Sector-5,
R.K.
Puram, New Delhi-110 022
Date 15.10.2010
Sub: Information under RTI Act
This is in reference to your letter dated 28' September 2010 seeking
information about compliance of web accessibility guidelines issued by
the
government of India.
information sought under RTI act is as under:
Q1. Is the IRCTC website www.irctc.co.in complying with the web
accessibility
guidelines issued by the Government of India?
Q1.1 If yes, please provide a copy of the compliance certificate/report.
Reply of The guidelines as stated by you are for compliance in
Indian Government
Q1 & 1.1 website, whereas IRCTC website www.irctc.co.in is a e-commerce
website having all commercial safety feature like VeriSign, Verified by
Visa, Master Card Secure code etc.
Q1.2 If the website www.irctc.co.in is not complying with the above said
guidelines then what is the reason for the same?
Reply: IRCTC website www.irctc.co.in is a commercial website, where
transaction is done through e-payment.
Q2. Has IRCTC ever got its website tested by persons with disabilities to
find out if the online reservation system can be used by persons with
disabilities such as persons with visual impairment (blindness, low
vision),
persons with mobility impairments and speech and hearing impairments?
Reply: No.
Q2.1 If this has not been done as yet then what are the reasons for the
same?
Reply: Compliance of web accessibility guidelines issued by the
Government
of India is not for e-commerce website where transaction of money is done
through e payment.
Q2.2. If such testing has been done, please provide me the testing
report.
Reply: No such testing has been done.
Q3. Does the IRCTC have any policy of non-discrimination towards persons
with disabilities? If yes please provide a copy of the concerned
policy/circular/rules.
Reply: HRD may reply as the question is regarding IRCTC policy of
non-discrimination towards persons with disabilities.
Q4. Why is IRCTC not allowing the facility of online reservation with
concession to persons with disabilities although the facility of
concAsional
online reservation is available to senior citizens?
Reply: Reservation in train is done through Indian Railways Passenger
Reservation System (PRS) which is maintained by CRIS. As per the
guidelines
of Railway Board, no concessional tickets except senior citizens can be
booked through I RCTC.
In case the reply is not satisfactory, then appeal may be preferred
within
thirty days to the GGM (DCS), IRCTC, 9th Floor, Bank of Baroda Building,
16,
parliament Street, New Delhi-110001.
(Anil Chopra) PIO and DGM/RR
Copy to:
1. it. Jt. General Manager (HRD) & PlOrplease find enclosed here the
copy
of application
from Shri Yogesh Taneja for furnishing information in respect to question
No.3 as the subject matter pertains to HRD.
Sh. Yogesh Taneja, C/o Mr. Arvind Ashdhir, National Association for the
Blind, Sector-5, R. K. Puram, New Delhi - 110022.
Dated: 21.10.2010
Sub: Information sought under Right to information Act, 2005. Ref.: Your
letter dated 28.09.2010.
This is in reference to your letter dated 28.09.2010 seeking information
under Right to Information Act - 2005. The reply to the query raised at
point no. 3 is as follows:
Q. Does the IRCTC have any policy of non-discrimination towards persons
with
disabilities? If yes please provide a copy of the concerned
policy/circular/rules.
Reply: No. But so far as recruitment to IRCTC is concerned, the
instructions
issued by Govt. of India in regard to reservations of persons with
disabilities is strictly complied with.
(R. K. Malhotra) Jt. General Manager (HRD) & PIO
----
Regards,
Prashant Ranjan Verma
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