New website to drive away Tadoba safari booking woes

Nagpur: Piqued by series of complaints against the booking flaws in the current website mytadoba.org, the administration of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), the most visited park by tourists, has decided to go for a more hi-tech website with advanced features and security.
Though there were no written complaints by individuals or other stakeholders including resort owners, many apprised officials about loopholes and flaws in the tatkal quota, mostly in the last three months. Sources said the present website operator, whose tenure ends on June 30, has been issued a notice.
TATR field director Dr Jitendra Ramgaonkar said, “Yes, I have received complaints mainly from resorts. The system is the same as we had deployed but recently there seem to be some people who are blocking the tickets before payment, and exploiting the time before it is released back to the pool by the system. We have instructed the present vendor to modify the process.”
Dr Ramgaonkar added, “We have already floated the tender and the last date for its submission was Monday. We will soon have a new website with an advanced system, features and security. It will take some time to install once the work order is issued in a few days.”
On the complaints of not getting tatkal tickets, the field director clarified, “By volume, tatkal tickets are very low, and the pressure of booking is very high. There will always be people who won’t get it.”
However, those facing problems, say, “Unlike the regular quota, for tatkal no one waits for tickets to appear on the screen because it can be blocked by selecting date and session.”
“After selecting the date and session, the quota is blocked even before the payment is completed. So, everyone tries to block it, and then wants to sell at a premium between 10,000-15,000. Sadly, the park doesn’t gain any extra money from this. It is like a lottery for some unscrupulous elements but injustice against genuine visitors who had to either pay more or miss the safari,” a visitor said.
“The tatkal booking system should be similar to regular booking where one needs to click on the number to book and later select gate and session. It only gets booked once payment is successful rather than just going to the next page and blocking the quota,” said a couple of stakeholders.
One of the computer engineers, who studied the Tadoba website, says, “There are many backends in the present website. There is enough scope for manipulations. Otherwise, how can tatkal tickets be booked even before the set time? Within a second of the opening of the tatkal quota, it gets sold out. How is it possible?”
Some gypsy owners said that the blocked permits get released randomly and seem to be managed manually. “This is a issue to be looked upon. Whenever human intervention is involved question marks will always be raised about the integrity of the website,” they said.