Let’s strive to be citizens who need no supervision

Representative images

For a suburban railway that operates day and night, the Western Railway said they have now started posting all-night ticket checking squads at stations to curb nuisance of unauthorised ticket travelling during the night hours. Terming it as the Batman Squad, the team members have started their drive and apprehended more than 2,300 ticketless travellers, a report said in this paper.

Operating at odd hours at night , the squad members patrol stations with a mission to ensure that every passenger travels with a valid ticket.

A senior official explained that the ‘Batman Squad' is trained to operate during night hours. The role of these ticket checking staff is to inspect trains and be vigilant for any signs of trouble or suspicious activity. This initiative will deter the commuters from travelling without ticket or travelling in higher class, especially, during night time.

While this edit has highlighted the scourge and crime of ticketless travel many times, this report shows that there is a tendency to break rules when you think nobody is watching. This may not just be about train travel but other aspects too. Now, we have cameras but how many times have you seen drivers and riders of two wheelers breaking the signal, when they realise that there are no cops stationed anywhere in sight?

Taking advantage of what they think will be thin security at night, these ticketless travellers, or those who travel in a higher class buying a lower class ticket espouse the: ‘let us take advantage, nobody will see us' philosophy.

Breaking infrastructure, throwing rubbish, trying to get away ticketless, are all offshoots of this mentality. It is good that the Railways has this squad, but a sad comment on us that we even need it.