08 March,2023 07:14 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
File Photo/PTI
The Western Railway on Wednesday said that it collected a fine of a whopping rupees 158.28 crore, which also includes Rs. 39.99 crore from Mumbai Suburban section from April 2022 to February 2023.
In a statement, Western Railway said that intensive ticket checking drives are being carried out continuously over Mumbai suburban local services, Mail, Express as well as passenger trains and holiday special trains so as to curb the menace of ticketless, irregular passengers.
"This is done to ensure hassle-free, comfortable travel & better services to all bonafide passengers over Western Railway," the statement said.
The highly motivated ticket checking team under the supervision of senior commercial officers of Western Railway, the statement said, organized several ticket checking drives from April 2022 to February 2023 during which a total of 23.70 lakh ticketless, irregular passengers and "unbooked luggage" cases were detected.
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The statement released by Sumit Thakur, the Chief Public Relations Officer of Western Railway said that during the month of February 2023, an amount of Rs.12.24 crore was recovered through detection of 1.87 lakh ticketless, irregular passengers, including "unbooked luggage" cases.
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Against a total 23.70 lakh ticketless, irregular passengers and unbooked luggage cases detected from April 2022 to February 2023, 15.92 lakh cases were detected during the corresponding period last year, which shows an increase of 48.86%.
The statement said that the fine of rupees 158.28 crore was recovered from these passengers which is an increase of 68.01 per cent over the corresponding period of last year, which was Rs. 94.21 crore.
In the month of February 2023, Western railway realized fines amounting to Rs.3.28 crore from Mumbai Suburban section. To prevent unauthorized entry in AC local trains, frequent surprise ticket checking drives are carried out. As a result of these drives more than 42,600 unauthorized passengers have been penalized since April 2022.
