Since April, everyday more than 102 people have been caught by the Central Railway for not following Covid protocols on rail premises. This comes at a time when the government has started taking the threat from the Omicron variant of Corona virus very seriously and have revised guidelines for travel.
The rail authorities claim that passengers travelling inside local trains are seen not wearing masks and following other Covid protocols. According to CR officials, nearly 25000 people have been penalized for not following Covid protocols. “These passengers have been fined Rs 41.28 lakh for not wearing masks and following Covid protocols,” said a CR official on condition of anonymity.
During the period April 1 to November 30, special teams of ticket checking personnel detected and penalized a total of 24,944 cases of non-compliance of covid-19 appropriate behaviour and an amount of Rs.41.28 lakhs respectively were realized as a fine. Sources in CR said that with the Omicron variant of Covid becoming an issue, they shall tighten the checking at railway stations and continue catching people who don't wear masks and do not follow other Covid protocols.
The number of daily passengers has touched 26-27 lakh now and rail authorities are operating trains at 100 percent. The rail authorities recently resumed the UTS App for issuing mobile tickets to passengers who are fully vaccinated. The Central Railway have also registered record revenue generation of Rs 123.31 crore from April to November from passengers travelling with unauthorized and/or irregular tickets.
Central Railway’s massive campaign to curb unauthorized travel has resulted in a fine collection of Rs 123.31 crore from 20.68 lakh cases. In November the CR authorities registered 4.52 lakh cases of unauthorized and irregular travel including unbooked luggage and an amount of Rs 30 crore were realized as penalty. Anil Kumar Lahoti, General Manager, Central Railway has appealed to the passengers to travel with valid tickets and follow all norms mandated for Covid-19.
Meanwhile the Central Railway has contributed Rs 14.57 crore as Non-Fare Revenue from April to November 2021 making it number one among all zonal railways. This is 350 percent more than that of the corresponding period of last year. Some of the major initiatives of Non-Fare Revenue are Digital Cloak Room at CSMT and LTT stations, App based wheel chair facility, advertisement inside coaches, local trains, hoarding sites etc.
