TIRUCHI: Over one crore people travel by trains every day across the country. And yet the increase in revenue of the Railways year after year unwittingly reflects a rise in the number of ticket-less travellers as well, notwithstanding the deterrent measure in the form of imposition of penalty as punishment on passengers travelling without tickets or without a proper ticket.
The provisions made in the Railway manual to put a check on ticketless travellers has evidently fallen short of serving the desired purpose. A tangible indication is the collection of a penalty amount of a whopping Rs. 21.12 lakh accruing from ticketless travellers and unbooked luggages during October alone by the Tiruchi Railway Division.
Intensive ticket checkingIncidentally, it was an all time high ticket checking earnings in a month. A total of 125 ticket checking staff, 15 Railway Police and 10 Railway Protection Force personnel were involved in the intensive ticket checking drive round the clock during the entire month in all express and passenger trains at Tiruchi Junction, Tiruchi Fort, Srirangam, Lalgudi, Ariyalur, Vriddhachalam, Villupuram, Pondicherry, Budalur, Thanjavur, Kumbakonam, Mayiladuturai, Cuddalore and Tiruthuraipoondi Railway Stations. A total of 8,140 cases were booked, according to Railway sources. Besides augmenting the revenue of the railways, such a drive has enabled the people with tickets to travel more comfortably.
Drive to continueThe intensive drive will be continued, the sources added.
Over 1.75 crore ticketless travellers in the country face the music of the authorities every year, railway sources said.
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