CR ticket checkers collect ₹1 crore fine each from violators

Mumbai: In just seven months, Central Railways (CR)’s four ticket checkers collectively collected a fine of ₹4

Mumbai: In just seven months, Central Railways (CR)’s four ticket checkers collectively collected a fine of ₹4.8 crore (each collecting ₹1 crore in the current financial year) from 53,697 ticketless travellers.

Thane, India - April 16, 2022: Crowd of stranded commuters try to board a local train as trains were running late due to the derailment of the three coaches of 11005 Dadar-Puduchery Express last night, at Thane station, Mumbai, India, on Saturday, April 16, 2022. (Praful Gangurde/HT Photo) (HT PHOTO)

Dharmendra Kumar, train ticket inspector, Mumbai division, CR, has caught 15,053 ticketless travellers and levied a fine of ₹1.43 crore. This is the highest amount collected by any ticket checker in Central Railway this year. “My focus was on long distance trains as there was heavy rush during the festive period. I always keep an eye out on trains that have more wait listed passengers,” said Kumar.

SB Galande, train ticket inspector, Mumbai, has caught 14,837 ticketless travellers and levied a fine of ₹1.34 crore. “Along with collecting fines we also ensure that the bonafide passengers are not inconvenienced. We check for ticketless travel at the station as well to ensure that the regular travellers do not miss the train due to the rush of ticketless travellers to board,” added Galande who has been with the railways for 23 years but worked as a ticket inspector only for eight years now.

Train ticket inspectors H A Wagh and Sunil Nainani from the Mumbai Division (CR) have also managed to find around 12,000 ticketless travellers each and levying a fine amounting to around ₹1.03 crore each.

Central Railway’s Mumbai Division conducted ticket checking drives during this period to find 11.67 lakh cases of ticketless travel from April to October this year. Moreover, they have managed to collect a fine of ₹66.88 crore revenue during this period through those fined.

“Ticket checking team of Central Railway has put in a lot of effort in curbing ticketless menace, four of the ticket checking staff have shown outstanding performance by collecting revenue of over ₹1 Crore individually. Our aim is to provide comfortable travel and better services to all bonafide rail users hence we have intensified the ticket checking drives in suburban locals, passenger services, special trains and mail express to curb ticket less and irregular travel,” said Shivaji Sutar, Chief public relations officer, CR.