Every month, over 22, 000 passengers travel without tickets from the railway’s Pune division. Furthermore, due to the summer holidays, railway stations are extremely busy. Taking advantage of the rush, many passengers opt to travel without a ticket, resulting in a sharp fall in the railway’s revenue. To curb the malpractice, the Pune railway division has formed a special squad to implement random checking of passengers on the platform as well as on running trains to catch without-ticket passengers.
“The Pune railway administration has taken up this special inspection campaign to trap ticketless passengers travelling from the Pune railway station. For this, all the ticket inspectors along with senior officials of the railway have been deputed to Pune railway station and other railway stations of the division. Punitive action is being taken against free passengers by these squads,” said Pune railway division spokesperson Rampal Barpagga.