Jamshedpur : The railway authorities has embarked on a special drive against ticketless travellers at Tatanagar railway station under the Chakradharpur railway division of South Eastern Railway ( SER).
A special team of ticket examiners today intercepted suspected ticketless passengers and charged penalty at the Tatanagar station. More than 100 passengers were caught traveling without ticket. The drive was led by chief commercial manager (Passenger Services), South Eastern Railway, JV Verma.
A senior official in the squad said that the aim of such special ticket checking drive is to generate revenue as the number of ticketless passengers has increased over the past few years, resulting in fall of revenue.
He noted that Ticket Checking staff, comprising Chief Ticket Inspectors, Travelling Ticket Examiners and staff of Special Squads is engaged day and night in regular ticket checking activities in all express and ordinary passenger trains.
In addition, surprise checks are being carried out by a Flying Squad and also by officers to monitor and guide the ticket checking drives and ensure that penalties are levied on erring passengers as per rules.
� We appeal to the passengers to travel with proper tickets and travel authorities without violating any rule in this regard Ticketless travel is becoming a serious concern for us and it is surprising that the figures are increasing rather than decreasing despite undertaking many drives. We are now thinking of other measures that we can take to curb this menace,” said a senior official.
First-class passengers, who have been travelling on certain routes for years, say they, too, have seen the number of ticketless travellers increase phenomenally in recent years.
Anuradha Kumar, who commutes to Kolkata every day, said, “I have been travelling in the first-class compartment for 14 years and now even I can spot ticketless travellers and second-class ticket holders who are travelling in the first-class compartment illegally just by looking at them.
Such people are crowding the first class compartments and the increased rush has begun to deter ticket checkers (TCs) too.”
Officials say that while the female commuters are proactive and ensure that people without a valid ticket don’t travel in first class compartments, male passengers have expressed their helplessness in tackling the problem.
Officials say passengers also take advantage of certain stations where they know there will be no checking.