To avoid work & meet target,TCs take a short cut

The TCs make the passengers pay the difference between the fare of the unreserved ticket and the fare of reserved class and an additional Rs 250 as penalty for boarding a reserved coach without reservation.

On Wednesday when Newsline visited the Pune Station,Sonu Singh,a passenger,who was about to board Pune-Darbhanga Express at the Pune Sation for Muzaffarpur (Bihar) and who had paid Rs 350 to buy the current ticket from booking counter was approached by a TC. The TC convinced him to pay additional Rs 560 (Rs 310 as difference of fares from Pune to Muzaffarpur plus Rs 250 as penalty).

The TCs target overcrowded trains like Nizamuddin Express,Pune-Darbhanga Express,Pune-Gorakhpur and Pune-Patna Express. Though they issue the receipt on the Pune station,the venue of the check is wrongly recorded as some station between Pune and Daund.

According to activists and Pune Division insiders,this practice is patently illegal. “No passengers can be imposed with a penalty before he has boarded the train. The special squads are supposed to patrol the trains and if they find somebody travelling in a reserved compartment without having the necessary ticket,they should penalise him and deboard him from the reserved bogie. The difference of fare should only be collected for the distance which he has traveled unauthorisedly,” said a senior railway official.

For example,if a passenger is caught between Pune and Daund,the difference of fare should be calculated only between the two stations. The passenger should be made to deboard at Daund. “If somebody is taking the fare difference for the entire journey like from Pune to Muzaffarpur it is illegal,” said a senior railway official.

Despite paying the additional money,these passengers have to sit on the floor in the passageways or close to the doors as the seats and births are already occupied by the authorised passengers.

According to insiders,the incentive for the ticket checkers in doing this is that they achieve the “penalty targets” given to them by the Commercial Department without having to travel in multiple trains.

“They collect the money from the passengers and fulfill their targets on station itself and spend the entire week sitting idle. Besides this they also get 5 per cent of the total amount collected in penalty,” said Harsha Shah of Railway Pravasi Groups.

She said the collection from a single train range between Rs 1 to Rs 1.5 lakh during non-festive days. During festive season,it goes up to Rs 5-6 lakh.

Shah said while the railways and the TCs make additional money,the passengers of reserved bogies have to face overcrowding.

“Despite paying the ticket amount and booking in advance,the passengers of reserved bogies face hardships. This is an illegal practice but the accounts and vigilance department are turning a blind eye,” she said.

Alok Badgul,Divisional Commercial Manager,said he was unaware if the challans were issued on the platform itself which,he said,was illegal. “Such passengers should be penalised and deboarded whenever they are found,” he said.