With four days left before the 120-day period of advance rail ticket reservation for the state's popular Ganapati festival starts, a Member of Parliament has supported the request of a Kalwa-based passenger, asking railway minister Piyush Goyal to restrict the period from 30 to 60 days so that only genuine passengers can avail the tickets and not agents.

"As you are aware, the Ganapati festival is the largest and most important festival for Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka. People will start travelling to their native places in Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Goa and Karwar from Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Gujarat, Delhi, etc. for this festival from August 18/19. The railway bookings for this period will start from April 17. Given the COVID-19 crisis, I appeal to the railway minister to limit the Advance Reservation Period (ARP) to 30 days so that it is not misused," Member of Parliament from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency, Vinayak Raut said, quoting the passenger.