‘Ticketing system to blame for fight’

The erroneous railway ticketing system is to be blamed for the fight between a couple and a ticket checker at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) on Friday, say railway commuters’ associations.

The erroneous railway ticketing system is to be blamed for the fight between a couple and a ticket checker at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) on Friday, say railway commuters’ associations.

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When railway ticket checker Kamran Chaudhary asked Abdul Rashid Sheikh to produce his ticket, he claimed that his wife Sabah, who was in the ladies compartment, had both the tickets. Unwilling to budge, Chaudhary fined Sheikh without waiting for Sabah. This led to a mob agitation, in which both Sheikh and Chaudhary were injured.

Subhash Gupta, ex-member, National Railway Users’ Consultative Council, said: “The incident occurred owing to the fault in the railway’s unreserved ticketing system. If you ask for two tickets, the booking clerks issue both tickets on the same card. How can the families travelling in different compartments produce it at the same time?”

Ticket checkers too are irked with the new technology. “Earlier, the booking clerks issued card tickets for each traveller. Now 3-4 tickets are issued on the same paper. The commuters often say that their ticket is with their relative travelling in the neighbouring compartment. There is no mechanism to check if the passenger is lying. Railways shouldask the booking clerks to issue separate tickets for each commuter,” he said.

Meanwhile, Abdul and Sabah have been sent to judicial custody. Chaudhary is recovering at the St George Hospital.