The Mumbai division of Central Railway (CR) has come down heavily on ticketless travellers in local trains after a barrage of complaints by commuters on social media.
In April alone, the authorities caught 20,760 violators and recovered penalties totalling to Rs 86,18,828. While 2,805 offenders were caught travelling without ticket in AC locals, 5,742 were fined in first-class coaches of non-AC locals and 12,213 were caught in the general coaches.
Officials said that if passengers fail to pay the penalty immediately, they are produced before a magistrate and prosecuted under the Railways Act, 1989.
They said the growing trend of ticketless travel can be attributed to proactive ticket-checking staff, who conduct regular and surprise checks that are intensified during rush hours. Some of the checks are also adventurously titled ‘ambush checks’ and ‘fortress checks’ and are held in association with the Railway Protection Force.
In the last financial year, over 18 lakh ticketless travellers were caught by CR’s Mumbai division and a total fine of over Rs100 crore was collected.
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