11 January,2021 07:28 AM IST | Mumbai | Rajendra B. Aklekar
Crowding near a foot overbridge at Malad railway station
'Even the new strain of the COVID-19 virus has not deterr ed commuters from crowding at stations and travelling without proper permission. With social distancing having gone for a toss, commuters are seen crowding at entry and exit points of railway stations and peak hours have started to look like the pre-pandemic times with jam-packed locals. According to the railways, officials have been catching more than 2,000 passengers travelling without permission daily.
Concerned about the crowding at stations, passenger association member Lata Argade said, "Why is there no social distancing? Has everyone got permission to travel? There is so much crowding everywhere and almost no checks while entering stations."
A queue outside CSMT
Railway sources said that on the Western Railway (WR) section, till December 2020, 45,323 cases of people travelling without tickets were reported and fine of '1.90 crore collected from them. "With the new strain around, this kind of crowding is very dangerous, and the railways need to work on a policy to fix timings in a way that peak hours are not there," an activist said.
"The problem is acute with limited number of entry/exit points and not many escalators/ elevators in use. The railways should draw a plan for all stations again and rethink on opening more entry/exit points. The limited gates are leading to more crowding and creating problems," said Prakash Munim, a commuter who travels on the WR section.
Peak hours have started to look like the pre-COVID times
"The crowd at Malad and all other stations has been extreme. It is more of a problem while entering/exiting a railway station, as limited number of bridges and gates are kept open," said commuter Pooja Chichkar.
She further said, "At CSMT for example, every morning there is a queue just to get out of the station because limited gates are kept open."
National Railway Users Consultative Committee member Subhash Guptsa said, "The railways should understand the commuters' problems as well. They do not want to violate rules, but if they hire a cab, they will end up paying '250 for a short trip. People are travelling without permission because they are not allowed to. The government should understand their inconvenience as well." As per latest data, on January 9 this year 8,37,554 passengers travelled on the WR section. In the first 10 days of this month, 71,79,020 passengers travelled on the section and since June last year, 7,27,25,890 passengers took the trains. Central Railway (CR) officials said that on an average, 8 to 10 lakh commuters travel daily on the section.
Chief public relations officer of CR, Shivaji Sutar said, "Ticket checking has been intensified. In December last year, about 39,220 cases of violations were reported and a total fine of '1.18 crore was collected. Since the lockdown, about 93,671 such cases have been reported and '3.05 crore fine collected from violators." Chief public relations officer of WR Sumit Thakur said, "The Mumbai division of WR has conducted regular and intensive ticket-checking drives. The section has been running 1,201 special suburban services for essential workers and other categories of passengers during stipulated hours, as notified by the government. We have also detected cases of fake ID card holders, who have been travelling in special suburban services."
A group of 40 CISF jawans argued with BMC officials and refused to undergo checks after arriving at the Dadar railway station from Bhuj in Gujarat on Sunday afternoon. "Since the train had arrived from Gujarat, one of the listed states, we requested them to cooperate, but they said tests were not meant for them, but for the general public, and walked out of the station," said a BMC official.
A test drive conducted by mid-day has found that despite random checks, crowding was taking place at railway stations. When this reporter entered the Mulund East railway station, he did not spot a single cop on duty to check whether people having valid permission were entering the premises. The only check that happens is at the booking counter. When a commuter asks for a ticket, he/she has to produce a valid ID card, only after which the ticket is issued. But there was crowding as usual on the train this reporter boarded. Less crowd is seen only during the afternoon when women have been allowed to travel.
Intensive ticket checking was conducted at the Ghatkopar railway station on Sunday from 7 am to 3 pm. A total of 25 ticket checkers and eight RPF jawans detected 259 cases of ticketless travel and fined them. A senior railway spokesperson said, "On Friday, a fortress check was undertaken at CSMT between 8 am and 4 pm and a total of 538 cases of unauthorised travel were detected, of which 58 were fake ID cases. We collected '1.3 lakh fine at CSMT alone."
