Over the past month and a half, over 400 police personnel have been fined for traveling without tickets on various mail and express trains within the Prayagraj railway division. According to officials, the fines were issued at multiple locations between Ghaziabad and Kanpur.
During special drives, it was found by the traffic officers that many police personnel were travelling without tickets, primarily in air-conditioned coaches and pantry cars, causing inconvenience to passengers.
Police personnel misuse their official position
Shashi Kant Tripathi, Chief Public Relations Officer, North Central Railway, said the Indian Railways regularly conducts drives to check unauthorised travellers. "Without-ticket travellers not only cause inconvenience to passengers but also financial loss to the railway. Hence, we have adopted strict measures to check unauthorised travelling of every individual and we have been quite successful in our efforts," Tripathi said.
Santosh Kumar, zonal secretary of the Indian Railway Ticket Checking Staff Organisation, NCR zone, said many police personnel misuse their official position, enter air-conditioned coaches and lie down on empty berths,
"They do not vacate the berths for authorised passengers and even threaten them as well as railway officials," Kumar said.
He further said that the special drive has received positive feedback from passengers, who appreciated the initiative and cooperated with railway officials. The drive was spearheaded by Amit Sudarshan, Deputy Chief Traffic Manager, with support from Assistant Traffic Manager Dinesh Kapil and other officers.
Many police personnel threatened traffic officers
One of the railway officials said many of these police personnel threatened the traffic officers and ticket examiners of dire consequences if they are fined. "Though the higher-ups in the Uttar Pradesh police department have issued cautionary letters and circulars asking police personnel not to travel on trains without tickets, it seems that these letters have had little impact on them," another railway official said.
"These police personnel think that no one will report to the higher-ups about their misconduct and so they can carry on with their activities," he added.
According to Kumar, at first, the police personnel attempted to intimidate the commercial officers. However, when the officers began recording the incidents on their phones and insisted on issuing challans while also threatening to report the misconduct to the respective departments, the police personnel eventually started pleading for leniency.
"Many of them fled from one coach to another to skip the fine," Kumar said.
According to the railway officials, the drive will be carried on throughout the festive season so that authorised passengers do not suffer. "Even after the festivals, we will conduct surprise checks occasionally to curb such activities," a railway official said.
(With PTI inputs)
