Here’s why passengers and TCs on Mumbai’s AC train fought

Pramod Doshi, 60, a regular commuter of the AC local said a ticket checker gave six passengers proper seats without checking their tickets.

The air-conditioned local departing from Churchgate at 7.49pm witnessed a scuffle between passengers and ticket checkers between Dadar and Borivli on Friday.

A fight broke out between passengers and ticket collectors on Mumbai’s AC local. (HT File)

Pramod Doshi, 60, a regular commuter of the AC local said a ticket checker gave six passengers proper seats, while another ticket checker also offered peanuts to them. “The ticket checker, who allotted them seats checked every passenger’s ticket barring those six. Hence, I asked him to check their tickets as well. He claimed they are railway employees,” said Doshi. When he asked them to prove that railway employees are allowed to travel free on AC trains, the ticket checkers threatened action against him. At that point, the entire compartment supported him and joined the argument.

According to Doshi, this happened on the third coach of the train. Passengers even pulled the alarm chain at Andheri and the Railway Protection Force arrived but watched silently.

Four of the six passengers ran away when they were asked to prove that they were railway staffers, but passengers caught two of them. They let them go when they requested that such a thing will not happen again. Some passengers posted the incident on social media, tagging railway minister Piyush Goyal to take action against the ticket checker.