In the absence of general coaches in long-route trains, the Northern Railways is struggling to accommodate the heavy rush of migrants heading home for Chhath Puja on November 10, with most of them travelling without tickets in reserved compartments as they failed to book in advance.
General coaches were excluded in long-route trains this year, due to fear of Covid spread.
Meanwhile, the railways has intensified ticket checking in view of the festive rush. Railway authorities in Ludhiana claimed to have collected ₹12 lakh during checking over the last two days. According to officials, ₹4 lakh was recovered from ticket violators on Saturday while ₹8 lakh was recovered on Sunday.
The drive continued on Monday as the Ludhiana railway station was flooded with passengers, struggling to board the trains with heavy luggage in tow.
“Only trains running from Ludhiana to Ferozepur, Ludhiana to Hisar and Ludhiana to Lohian Khas, Jalandhar have general coaches. Despite starting special festival trains for migrants, many of them couldn’t be accommodated as only those with the prior reservations could travel,” said a railway official.
The official added that in the absence of general coaches, passengers tend to travel without tickets in reserved coaches as many of them are not able to book in advance.
{{/usCountry}}The official added that in the absence of general coaches, passengers tend to travel without tickets in reserved coaches as many of them are not able to book in advance.
{{/usCountry}}Jagatpal, a passenger on Amritsar-Katihar Express who was fined, said he couldn’t reserve a seat in advance as his contractor sanctioned his leave at the last moment. “There were no seats left in the train but since I had to reach my hometown for Chhath, I boarded the train without a ticket. Railways should have arranged more seats for us or at least allowed general coaches during festivals,” he said.
When asked, a senior official said that such decisions are taken by the central ministry. “Since everything is back on track, general coaches should also have been allowed to ply, he said.
New record in ticket violation fine
Continuing its special checking drive on Sunday, Firozpur division of Northern Railways recovered ₹20.93 lakh fine from ticket violators in a day, surpassing its previous day’s record of ₹16.43 lakh.
A team of 35 ticket checkers conducted the special checking in trains running from or through Amritsar-Jalandhar railway section and Jalandhar-Ludhiana railway section on Saturday. They caught 2, 831 persons for the violation on Sunday. The offenders on Sunday were caught travelling in Paschim Express, Katihar express, Begumpura and Malwa Express. The team recovered the fare as well as penalty amount from the violators on the spot. Senior divisional commercial manager Chetan Taneja warned people against resorting to such unlawful means of travelling.