NF Railway collects Rs 21 crore from ticketless passengers

OUR BUREAU

GUWAHATI, Dec 10: A total of 345,427 cases were detected in the State by NF railway for travelling without ticket or with an irregular ticket with Rs.21 crore being collected as fine in eight months of the current fiscal, an official said here on Thursday.

“NFR (Northeast Frontier Railway) officials registered 345,427 cases of travelling without ticket or irregular ticket passengers. A total fine of Rs.21 crore was realised from these passengers from April to November,” NFR’s chief public relations officer Prav Jyoti Sharma said.

“To discourage ticketless travel, the NFR has put systems in place whereby surprise checks are conducted by flying squads,” he said. Fortress checks are also conducted in stations. The NFR officials during surprise checking are accompanied by security personnel from the Railway Protection Force and the Government Railway Police.

On Wednesday, a massive ticket checking drive in Guwahati and Kamakhya stations by officials of Lumding division was done leading to detection of 375 cases of ticketless travelling and recovery of Rs.176, 873 towards fare and pelty.

NFR General Mager Mohd Jamshed has instructed all his staff to keep up the momentum of the drive so that ticketless travelling is discouraged and bofide travellers can have a smooth journey.

Another NFR official said that unlike other parts of India, cases of ticketless travel or passengers with irregular tickets were negligible earlier in the northeastern region, particularly Assam.

“As cases of ticketless travel or travel on irregular tickets in the northeastern region increased, the NFR stepped up surprise checks by flying squads and other railway officials,” he said.

Sharma said that during the current fincial year till the month of November 2015, special drives were undertaken in Tinsukia, Lumding, Rangiya, Alipurduar and Katihar divisions under NF Railway.