2024-09-22 16:17:31
New Delhi: The Railway Ministry is going to crack down on those traveling without tickets. For this, a special checking campaign will be run during the festive season. It has been decided to start a special ticket checking campaign to keep an eye on ticketless passengers including policemen. Officials gave this information. The Railway Ministry has written a letter to the General Managers of 17 zones on September 20 in this regard. The number of people traveling without tickets increases a lot during festivals. In the letter, the Ministry has asked to start a special campaign against ticketless and unauthorized passengers between October 1 to October 15 and October 25 to November 10. Along with this, instructions have been given to take appropriate action under the provisions of the Railway Act of 1989.
There will be a special eye on the police
According to the commercial officers of the railways who are part of the regular campaign going on in various railway zones, there is a rush during festivals. At that time, along with the common people, policemen will also be their target. The reason is that they are among the top violators.
An officer said, “During our recent surprise check between Ghaziabad and Kanpur, we found hundreds of policemen travelling without tickets in AC coaches of various express and mail trains. When we fined them, initially they refused to pay. They threatened us with dire consequences.”
He said, “We were fearless and made them pay. The response of the passengers was very encouraging as they were happy and shocked to see action against the policemen.” Ticket inspectors of the North Central Railway zone said that they want to focus on policemen and other unauthorised passengers because they create problems for passengers with valid tickets.
A large number of policemen were caught travelling without tickets
When asked about the number of policemen caught travelling without ticket in recent times, a railway spokesperson of Prayagraj division said, “We do not maintain separate data for policemen. But, in the last three months i.e. June, July and August, 1,17,633 passengers were caught travelling without ticket in Prayagraj division alone under North Central Railway (NCR) region. A fine of Rs 9,14,58,171 was imposed on them.”
Train ticket examiners also feel that policemen create the most problems. They not only break the law by travelling without tickets but also force legitimate passengers to share their seats and clash with railway staff over the action.
Sanjay Singh, president of the Indian Railway Ticket Checking Personnel Organisation (IRTCSO), said, “Dealing with ticketless policemen is a real nightmare. They not only misbehave with us but often threaten to register false cases against us to harass us.”
On an application made under the RTI Act by a person named Chandra Shekhar Gaur, the Railways said that in the financial year 2023-24, 361.045 lakh passengers were caught traveling without ticket or unauthorized ticket and a fine of Rs 2231.74 crore was collected from them.