The Railway Ministry has decided to launch a special ticket-checking drive around the festive seasons to keep a check on ticketless travellers, including policemen as they are among the top violators, officials said.
The Ministry, on September 20, wrote a letter to the General Managers of 17 Zones asking them to start a special drive against ticketless and unauthorised travellers “for the period October 1 to 15 and October 25 to November 10” and take suitable action as per the provisions of the Railway Act of 1989.
Railway commercial officers, who are part of the ongoing regular drive in various rail divisions, say that along with common people, policemen will also be on their radar during the festive rush as they are among the top violators.
“In our recent surprise check between Ghaziabad and Kanpur, we found hundreds of policemen travelling in AC coaches of various Express and Mail trains without any ticket. When we imposed a fine on them, initially they refused to pay and threatened us with dire consequences. We remained undaunted and made them pay.
The response of the passengers was very encouraging as they were happy and surprised to see action being taken against police personnel,” railway official said.
