Port Blair, April 17: The Directorate of Shipping Services under the aegis of Andaman and Nicobar Administration has introduced online reservation of ship tickets for the convenience of the passengers. The Chief Secretary, Shri Keshav Chandra, IAS in the presence of Secretary (Shipping), Shri Kishore Kshirsagar Lakshman, IAS and Director of Shipping Services, Capt. Atul Kumar Singh in a brief function at his office held today, launched the Directorate’s website with e-ticketing facility and lauded the Department for this citizen centric initiative.
The online reservation system will offer convenient and hassle free online booking options to the passengers and payments can be made through various options available on the website.
The move comes in line with the Government's efforts to digitize various services and make them accessible to the people. The introduction of online reservation system is aimed for benefitting passengers travelling to and from the Islands, who previously had to wait in long queues at the booking counters to get their tickets. Passengers can now book their tickets from the comfort of their home or office without having to visit the booking counters.
The online reservation services can be availed by a onetime registration at the portal https://dss.andaman.gov.in. The system is user-friendly and easy to navigate, ensuring a seamless booking experience for the passengers. The website along with tickets also provides information, including schedule of ships, available routes, fares etc.
The online reservation system will also help in reducing waiting time at booking counters, thereby improving overall efficiency of shipping services. It will also enable the Directorate of Shipping Services to gather valuable data that can be used to improve the services further.
The entire project has been undertaken by CRIS (Center for Railway Information Systems) in association with other stake holders such as NICSI, Bhubaneswar for cloud infrastructure, STQC (Chennai) for Security Audit and BSNL for internet connectivity. The Directorate of Shipping Services is committed to provide safe, reliable, and efficient shipping services. Introduction of online reservation system is a major step towards achieving this objective, ensuring that travelers can look forward to a more comfortable and hassle free journey.
Initially, the online facility will be available from 9 AM to 4 PM similar to the existing STARS Ticketing Counter timings and subsequently, the services will be made available 24x7.