Onam rush in Keralam: Railways intensify checks to curb ticketless travel
Indian Railways is intensifying ticket inspections and increasing fines during the Onam festival season to curb unauthorized travel in reserved coaches. The move follows a rise in fraudulent ticket practices and reports of physical altercations between passengers and railway staff.
Why it matters
Ensures passenger safety and revenue protection for public transport systems during high-traffic holiday periods.
Intensified checks are under way on trains by travelling ticket examiners (TTEs) to identify passengers who travel without tickets or illegally enter reserved coaches. Considering the Onam rush, stringent instructions have been issued to TTEs to impose fines on such passengers or seek the support of the Railway Protection Force to initiate legal action.
The move comes in the wake of a few recent incidents of alleged manhandling attempts against railway staff who tried to discourage such unauthorised passengers. There were even two incidents in which TTEs sustained injuries after being allegedly attacked by passengers who were caught travelling without proper tickets.
“There were occasions when the TTEs adopted a humanitarian approach in the case of certain passengers in the past. But we are helpless now as the number of fraudsters is on the rise,” says a TTE on duty on the Palakkad-Mangaluru stretch.
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