Rs 20 lakh fine collected on single day as SCR cracks whip

Hyderabad: The South Central Railway has collected a record Rs 20 lakh on a single day in a drive against ticketless travel, irregular travel and un-booked luggage at the Secunderabad station here.

"In view of huge rush of passengers on the eve of Sankranti festival season, SCR has taken focused steps to handle the heavy flow of people in a smooth manner at major stations. Towards this, emphasis has been given to eliminate the menace of ticketless travel, irregular travel and un-booked luggage etc, so as to provide a hassle-free travel to the bonafide passengers," SCR said in a release.

As a part of the exercise, a special check was conducted on Saturday at Secunderabad railway station, which registered a huge increase in footfalls in the last few days.

"During this fortress check, 103 trains including 62 express trains, 19 passenger trains and 22 MMTS trains were also checked to control the presence of unauthorised persons," the release said.

A total of 4673 persons were found to be present without a valid travel authority.

"They comprised of 1110 persons travelling without ticket; 3347 persons travelling irregularly (ie on a transferred ticket or in a higher class etc.) and 216 persons with un-booked luggage," the release said.

While ticketless travelers were penalised Rs. 6.2 lakh, irregular travel cases yielded Rs. 13.6 lakh and un-booked luggage cases resulted in realisation of Rs. 0.23 lakhs towards penalty.

"In all, a record Rs. 20.02 lakh was realised towards fare/penalty in 4673 cases in a single day due to the efforts of ticket checking staff. It is the highest ever realisation of fine from ticketless/unauthorised travelers at any Station in a single day on SCR so far," the SCR said.