28 July,2014 12:18 AM IST | | Anuj Ismail
In a six-month-long drive, Pune railway division has caught 94,354 passengers travelling without tickets or without booking their heavy luggage
Local trains
In a ticket checking drive by the Pune railway division, 94,354 passengers have been caught in the last six months, averaging some 17 people a day. Between January and June, the railways, in collaboration with the Railway Protection Force (RPF), has collected close to Rs 5.05 lakh from people travelling without tickets or travelling without booking heavy luggage.
Crackdown: The drive was initiated to catch people travelling in long-distance and local trains without a ticket. File Pic
Railway authorities conducted the checks between Pune and Lonavala, at major railway stations such as Shivajinagar, Pimpri and Chinchwad. "The drive was initiated to catch people travelling in long-distance and local trains without a ticket. Most of the times, passengers give us lame excuses that they were in a hurry or have misplaced the ticket," said Yogendra Kumar Sharma, public relations officer of Pune railway division.
"Passengers travelling in long-distance trains do not book their extra luggage and simply keep it in the middle of the passage, blocking the way, which causes inconvenience to others. We have informed people time and again to book their heavy luggage, but they take the easy way out to save money," he added.
Sharma added that if a passenger is caught without a valid ticket, they have to pay the full fare topped by a R250 fine. In case they are unable to do this, authorities have no choice but to take whatever cash they have and let them off with a warning.
In order to create awareness, the railways has been conducting street plays and putign up posters at major stations, informing passengers about the importance of travelling with a legal ticket.
