This fine is not so fine in terms of behaviour

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Western Railway collected a record fine of Rs 114.18 crore during ticket checking drives conducted this year. The ticket checking team held several ticket checking drives from April to October 2022, and recovered the amount. A portion of this amount was received from more than one lakh ticketless passengers, and irregular passengers, meaning those who bought a general ticket but travelled in a higher class compartment, or rode beyond the distance that they bought tickets for, including unbooked luggage cases.

The fine of Rs 114.18 crore is an increase of 212.22 per cent over the corresponding period last year, which was Rs 36.57 crore.

To prevent unauthorised entry into AC local trains, frequent surprise ticket checks are carried out. As a result of these drives more than 22,300 unauthorised passengers have been penalised since April this year.

These are shameful figures and speak badly of us, as commuters. People are quick to point fingers at the commuting service. There are complaints about late trains, skeletal services, and cancelled trains.

While many of these complaints do have merit, and we do need to raise our voices when it comes to services needing improvement, we also have some responsibility.

We also need to do our part instead of looking at one side of the coin. Do not travel ticketless. Do not go beyond your stated destination. Do buy platform tickets, instead of trying to sidle out of the station, hoping nobody is going to catch you. Travelling in AC trains without requisite tickets is criminal.

We should not hope that nobody catches us, we should not break the rules. Pure and simple. Our conscience needs to dictate our behaviour and usage of facilities. When pointing a finger at somebody there are at least four pointing at us, travellers. We must aim for a record low in fines.