In February, Ludhiana railway station officials recovered ₹1.30 crore from ticket violators

With just a few days left for Holi, the trains which ferry passengers to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are running to full capacity.

After a successful checking drive initiated during Diwali and Chhath Puja last year, Ludhiana railway officials are all geared up to catch ticket violators this Holi.

Railway teams checking tickets of passengers in Ludhiana on Sunday. The checking drive has been intensified in view of Holi, when migrants head to their hometowns. (Harsimar Pal Singh/HT)

In February, the checking teams in Ludhiana collected penalty to the tune of ₹1.30 crore from passengers travelling without tickets.

“Thousands of such violators were caught during checking last month following which they were made to pay the ticket fare along with a ₹250 fine. Most of them were the migrant labourers heading to their hometowns,” said a railway official.

The official added that the migrants tend to travel in groups and not each passenger in the group buys a ticket. “They try to escape the checking teams on trains by hiding in toilets or trying to get out of the station in groups. But we know their tactics,” added the officer.

With just a few days left for Holi, the trains which ferry passengers to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are running to full capacity.

Moreover, special trains initiated by the railways to facilitate the heavy rush amid Holi are also packed.

According to officials, when passengers fail to get immediate reservation, they tend to board the trains without tickets. A senior official, on the condition of anonymity, said that penalties worth lakhs have already been collected in March at the Ludhiana station.

In Ferozepur division, under which the Ludhiana railway station falls, a total of ₹2.85 crore fine was recovered from 44,313 people travelling without tickets in February. As many as 370 passengers were also penalised for littering at the railway stations under Ferozpur Division last month following which ₹62,000 were recovered from them under Anti Littering Act.

Vimal Kalra, senior divisional commercial manager, (DCM), Ferozepur Division said, “People travelling without tickets also cause inconvenience to passengers who have got their seats reserved. It will be better for passengers to travel with tickets so that they can stay away from embarrassment and legal trouble.”