Joyriders forced to pay the price

VADODARA, July 22: Joyriders beware! The Vadodara division of the Western Railways has its eyes peeled for you!After months of tolerating...

VADODARA, July 22: Joyriders beware! The Vadodara division of the Western Railways has its eyes peeled for you!

After months of tolerating an increasing number of ticketless people who hitched8217; rides in mail, express or even superfast trains, or regular ticket-holders who travelled in the sleeper class, the anti-fraud squad of the local railway division has been offered a brand new target: each of its 1200-odd personnel has to collect Rs 2,000 everyday as fine from defaulters or irregular ticket-holders.

Alongside nabbing unlawful travellers, the new measure expects to finally give the bona fide passenger value for his money. 8220;After these targets were set, the squad is checking even the passenger trains8221;, claims Senior Divisional Commercial Manager Manmohan Singh, adding that earlier, the raids were restricted to the upper classes of mail and express trains.

As a result, he said, the average daily rate of apprehensions per person had increased from two or three to seven.

While the administration may be crowing over the figures, the squads themselves, however, describe the targets as 8220;unrealistic8221;. Pointed out a squad member, 8220;Though we come across people travelling ticketless or with irregular tickets, such cases are few and far between on the long-distance trains.8221;

8220;The only regular cases are of transfer of tickets or travelling short distances without tickets8221;, said another member of the squad. But, he adds, there was not much action that could be taken against them. 8220;They can be fined, but if they8217;re unable to pay, they are chargesheeted at the most.8221;To achieve their target, each member of the three local squads has to check upto three coaches of two trains every day, translating into 144 mail and express passengers or 200 in passenger trains; each train is attended by three or four vigilantes.

8220;A defaulter in trains like the Rajdhani or the Shatabdi are fined Rs 1,400 for travelling without reservations8221;, said a squad member. 8220;But the charges for the mail and express train vary from Rs 350-Rs 400 in the ordinary classes and Rs 700-up for the other classes.8221; Though there were more defaulters on passenger trains, the fines there were a more nominal Rs 70 or Rs 80, he added.

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Though they claim to have no objection to being monitored, the squad members are bitter about the high targets in view of the comparatively low number of defaulters. This was especially true for those serving on the mail and express trains, they said.

While the members of the squads may have their grouses, according to Singh, the bottomline is improving. For the public sector organisation, that can only be good news.