Railway Ticket Checking Rules: The Railway Ministry has decided to launch a special ticket checking campaign to keep an eye on ticketless travellers, including policemen, during festivals.
Railway Ticket Checking Rules: The Railway Ministry has decided to launch a special ticket checking campaign to keep an eye on ticketless passengers, including policemen, during festivals. Officials gave this information. In a letter written to the General Managers of 17 zones on September 20, the Railway Ministry has asked to launch a special campaign against ticketless and unauthorized passengers between ‘October 1 to October 15 and October 25 to November 10’ and take appropriate action under the provisions of the Railway Act of 1989.
Policemen will be targeted
According to the commercial officers of the railways who are part of the regular campaign being carried out in various railway zones, there is a rush during festivals and at that time, along with the common people, policemen will also be their target as they are among the top violators.
Police officers threaten
An officer said, “In our recent surprise inspection between Ghaziabad and Kanpur, we found hundreds of policemen travelling without tickets in air-conditioned coaches of various express and mail trains. When we fined them, initially they refused to pay and 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 police personnel.”
Ticket inspectors of the North Central Railway zone said that they want to focus on policemen and other unauthorised passengers as they create trouble for passengers with valid tickets.
Ticketless passengers fined Rs 9 crore
When asked about the number of policemen caught travelling without ticket in recent times, a railway spokesperson of Prayagraj division said, “We do not keep 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) zone and a fine of Rs 9,14,58,171 was imposed on them.” ‘Policemen cause trouble’
Train ticket examiners also believe that policemen create the most problems as they not only break the law by travelling without ticket but also forcibly force legitimate passengers to share their seats and clash with railway staff over action.
Sanjay Singh, president of the Indian Railway Ticket Checking Personnel Organization (IRTCSO), said, “Dealing with ticketless policemen is a real nightmare as they not only misbehave with us but often threaten to register fake 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.
