AGARTALA, Aug 19 (TIWN): Public complaint has come to TIWN that Urban Development Department, Tripura is committing a heinous crime and a massive scandal is underway in the name of Tripura Urban Development Authority (TUDA) flat booking vide its website https://tuda.tripura.ind.in/.

Instances of thuggery are as follows :-

1. TUDA had notified that booking of flats will be started on 15.8.2019 at 03.00 PM through website https://tuda.tripura.ind.in/ but some near and dear ones of the high officials involved and the private website developer made illegal bookings the previous evening itself, i.e, on 14.8.2019 via the link website https://tfbs.tripura.ind.in. (A friend sent this photo as enclosed). As soon as this came to notice of others the booking link was disabled on 14.8.2019 night . Eventhough these people will deny this but the fact can be confirmed by checking the TUDA bank transaction details on 14.8.2019 and booking transaction history. How come booking already started on 14.8.2019 whereas the official launch date was 15.8.2019 ?

2. On 15.8.2019 at 3.00 PM, as soon as the booking restarted , the site was wilfully slowed down by nefarious design. Every time an unsuspecting prospective customer would select a flat and proceed to payment page, the site would not work. It is surprising how the same flat was once showing booked and at the next instant showing as unbooked. In some cases the payment also went through but acknowledment was not received and the public had to keep on depositing money.

3. Thereafter, the site was stopped and a press release was put up on the website (as enclosed) which was later removed and some other memos and order posted but nowhere was the earlier press release cancelled or denied.

4. The same process repeated itself on 19.8.2019 when the site was again restarted and same problems went on unabated. Many customers could not book because money was getting deducted multiple times leading to less balance in account but no booking confirmation was coming. The nodal officers were simply saying that customers should try again and again but had no answer when asked how much money would they deduct in a single day before giving confirmation.

All in all, it was a total farce. There is doubt how the private website developers were engaged without open tender for such an important thing. They promised to refund in a few days but no answer was given on how a person would have booked if the site simply kept on deducting account balance. This is suspected to be a ploy by vested interests to malign and tarnish the image of high and mighty. The bookings should be restarted with a robust mechanism such that transparency is ensured.