Indian railways.
DH file photo
New Delhi: The Railway Ministry has decided to launch a special ticket-checking drive around the festive seasons to keep a check on ticketless travellers, including policemen as they are among the top violators, officials said.
The Ministry, on September 20, wrote a letter to the General Managers of 17 Zones asking them to start a special drive against ticketless and unauthorised travellers "for the period October 1 to 15 and October 25 to November 10" and take suitable action as per the provisions of the Railway Act of 1989.
Railway commercial officers, who are part of the ongoing regular drive in various rail divisions, say that along with common people, policemen will also be on their radar during the festive rush as they are among the top violators.
"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.
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 said that they want to focus on policemen and other unauthorised travellers because they create a nuisance for passengers with valid tickets.
When asked about the number of policemen caught travelling without a ticket in the recent past, a railway spokesperson from Prayagraj Division, said, "We don't maintain separate data for policemen, however, in the last three months, ie, 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."
Train ticket examiners too feel that policemen are the biggest nuisance as they not only break the law by travelling without a ticket but even harass valid travellers by forcibly asking them to share their berths and browbeat railway employees when confronted to take action.
"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, Indian Railway Ticket Checking Staff Organisation (IRTCSO) said.
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."
Ticketless travelling is among the most common offences on the railways.
According to a response under the RTI Act by the Indian Railway to an applicant Chandra Shekhar Gaur, in the Financial Year of 2023-24, the Railway officials caught 361.045 lakh passengers travelling either without tickets or improper tickets and collected Rs 2231.74 cr as fines.
Keeping in mind the passengers' comfort during the festive rush, the Ministry has asked zones "to nominate senior level officers to monitor these drives at divisional as well as zonal level.
"Feedback of these drives may be sent to this office by November 18," the Ministry's letter said.