For WR medallists, no train, no gain

MUMBAI, MAY 3: Surendra Pal Singh, a travelling ticket inspector (TTI) with the Western Railway (WR), was awarded the General Manager's A...

MUMBAI, MAY 3: Surendra Pal Singh, a travelling ticket inspector (TTI) with the Western Railway (WR), was awarded the General Manager’s Award last week for recording 6,085 cases of ticketless travel and unauthorised transport of luggage in the last one year.

“I register around 25 such cases every day, and I love the job,” he says. On the train, Singh proceeds to check almost every passenger in a compartment and gets off at the next station with at least one catch. “Most of them feel that there is no need to take tickets at such early an hour. I just prove them wrong,” he says.

Not only does he prove them wrong, he also earns the railways at least Rs 30,000 per month through fines. This, at a time, when ticket checkers on the railways are set a target of 250 cases amounting to at least Rs 28,000 every month.

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Also, two officers from the WR’s vigilance branch Ajay Prakash and S N Gurjar have won the GM’s awards for cracking the third biggest case of touting in WR’s history.

Prakash, an AssistantVigilance Officer, and Gurjar, a Chief Vigilance Inspector, headed the team which arrested Paresh and Bhavesh Shah and consficated 121 tickets from Mumbai to Ahmedabad and Gandhidham worth over Rs 75,000.

The Shahs, who run the SP Group of Travels in Goregaon, booked tickets in bulk for nearly 600 clients under false names. These tickets would then be sold to mostly Jain pilgrims at a premium. Moreover, since nearly half the tickets were bought at concessional rates meant for senior citizens and children, the Shahs earned an almost 50 per cent profit from each deal.

If Prakash, Gurjar and Singh are concerned with commercial crime, Rajshree Bhagwat Sarode won the award for performing the almost impossible task of catching a stone-thrower.

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The 24-year-old constable attached to the Railway Protection Force (RPF) was on her way to Churchgate in November last year when she was hit by a stone flung at the train by a contract labourer near Charni Road. Though bruised on her forehead, she put the stone in herpocket and got off at Churchgate.

Teaming up with two other constables, Sarode went back to Charni Road in search of the stone-thrower. Caught by surprise Velmurugan, who worked on the tracks under a contractor, confessed to the crime. He was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment by the courts a few days later.

Meanwhile, Sarode resumed duty the next day and soon became the first person in the Churchgate unit of the RPF to get the GM’s award within two years of service.