Firozepur Division nets Rs 2.52-cr penalty from ticketless travellers

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, February 6

The Firozepur Division of the Northern Railway has achieved a rare distinction of collecting a penalty of Rs2.52 crore from ticketless travellers in the month of January during an intensive drive to curb this menace.

The ticket-checking drive will continue relentlessly throughout the Firozepur Division. It will be in the own interest of travellers to travel with valid tickets and purchase their tickets from Railway counters, reservation centres or authorised agencies. Railway officials

Giving this information, senior Railway officials said as many as 38,206 persons were caught travelling without valid tickets and a sum of Rs2.52 crore was recovered as fare and penalty from them. The Railways had made a recovery of Rs14.25 crore from ticketless travellers in the division from April 2021 to January 2022.

Making a special mention of a travelling ticket examiner (TTE), Ram Rup Meena, with his headquarters in Ludhiana, an official said Meena alone had recovered Rs60 lakh as fare and penalty from ticketless travellers in January which was the best individual performance during the month.

The Railway officials said to maintain reasonably good level of sanitation at the railway stations and platforms, an Anti-Littering Act had been enacted, which had provisions for imposition of fine/penalty on those throwing trash and garbage on the Railways premises, platforms and tracks. Under this Act, the Railway staff had challaned 345 persons in the month of December 2021 and a penalty of Rs60,000 was recovered from the violators.

The officials said the ticket-checking drive would continue relentlessly throughout the Firozepur Division. It would be in the own interest of travellers to travel with valid tickets and purchase their tickets from Railway counters, reservation centres or authorised agencies.

38,206 persons caught sans ticket

Senior railway officials said as many as 38,206 persons were caught travelling without valid tickets and a sum of Rs2.52 crore was recovered as fare and penalty from them. The Railways had made a recovery of Rs14.25 crore from ticketless travellers in the division from April 2021 to January 2022.