Indian Railways to launch a 'special drive' against ticketless travellers

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The Railway Ministry has decided to undertake a special ticket-checking drive around the festive season to keep a watch on ticketless travellers, especially police officers, who are among the top violators, PTI reported.

The Railway Ministry, on September 20, wrote a letter to the General Manager of 17 Zones requesting them to launch a special drive against ticketless and unauthorised travellers "for the period October 1 to 15 and October 25 to November 10" and take appropriate action under the Railway Act of 1989.

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According to PTI, the railway commercial officers, who are part of the ongoing regular campaign in several rail divisions, claim that along with ordinary people, policemen would also be on their radar during the festive rush because they are among the top offenders.

"In our recent surprise check between Ghaziabad and Kanpur, we found hundreds of policemen travelling in AC coaches of various Express and Mail trains without any ticket. When we imposed a fine on them, initially they refused to pay and threatened us with dire consequences," a railway official said to PTI.

He added, "We remained undaunted and made them pay. The response of the passengers was very encouraging as they were happy and surprised to see action being taken against police personnel."

Ticket-checking officials from North Central Railways Zone told the PTI that they want to focus on policemen and other unauthorised travellers as they cause inconveniences for customers who have legitimate tickets.

According to a railway spokesperson from Prayagraj Division, when PTI inquired about the number of police officers who had been caught travelling without a ticket recently, "We don't maintain separate data for policemen, however in the last three months, i.e., June, July, and August, 1,17,633 travellers were fined Rs 9,14,58,171 only in the Prayagraj division under NCR zone for travelling without a ticket."

In addition to breaking the law by travelling without a ticket, police officers also harass legitimate travellers by forcing them to share berths and berating railway staff when they are asked to take action, according to train ticket examiners, who also believe that police officers are the worst annoyance.

"Dealing with WT policemen is a real nightmare as they not only misbehave with us but often threaten to file fake cases to harass us," Sanjay Singh, President of the Indian Railway Ticket Checking Staff Organisation (IRTCSO) said to PTI.

Singh added," Of late, several videos were viral on social media platforms where policemen fought with railway staff, TTE and common passengers when confronted to produce valid tickets. I request the respective police departments to take exemplary action against such police personnel as they not only tarnish the image of police among citizens but also cause inconvenience for authorised passengers."

One of the most prevalent offenses on railroads is travelling without a ticket.

In response to an application by Chandra Shekhar Gaur, the Indian Railways provided a statement under the RTI Act stating that during the 2023-24 Financial Year, the Railway officers detected 361.045 lakh passengers travelling either without tickets or with incorrect tickets, and they were able to collect fines totalling Rs 2231.74 cr.

The Ministry has requested zones "to nominate senior level officers to monitor these drives at divisional as well as zonal level," keeping in mind the passengers' comfort during the festive rush. The Ministry's letter stated, "Feedback on these drives may be sent to this office by November 18."

(With Inputs from PTI)