Cops, railway staff in ‘ticketless’ travel row

Times of India: Mumbai: Monday, April 22, 2013.

A Right To Information (RTI) reply, obtained by activist Anil Galgali, has revealed that 671 railway employees, 101 policemen and 27 home guards were "found travelling unauthorisedly in local trains and mail/express trains" between April 2009 and January 2013.

Galgali, who shared the RTI information with mediapersons on Sunday, said that fines to the tune of nearly Rs 2 lakh were recovered from a majority of the railway employees, cops and home guards. But, fines amounting to Rs 72,234 are still "unpaid" as per the Central Railway records obtained under the RTI Act, he said.

When TOI contacted a senior Central Railway official, he doubted the veracity of the figures provided by Galgali. "The RTI activist has provided the media with a few documents, based on which he wants to show the railways in bad light and create an unwarranted controversy. What are the exact questions asked by him under the RTI? In the absence of the exact nature of the RTI query, the statistics seem doubtful."

Galgali told TOI: "The questions asked by me under RTI were: In the last five years how many railway employees, policemen and home guards were caught travelling without a ticket; the number of cases and fines recovered; and how many had not paid the fines." He further said, "I have personally seen several instances of railway employees and security personnel travelling without a valid ticket in suburban and non-suburban trains. Several railway employees travel in the first-class compartment, though they are eligible to travel only in the second class." He felt that the actual quantum of police personnel and railway employees travelling without "authority" in trains was more than shown in the data that was provided under the RTI.

Galgali said he has sent copies of the RTI reply to the heads of police organizations in the state and general managers of Central Railway and Western Railway. "Statistics prove it is a serious issue and the organization heads should issue instructions or initiate steps to stop this practice among their employees. Fines amounting to Rs 1.97 lakh were recovered from 567 railway employees, cops and home guards. But fines were shown unpaid by 148 railway staffers, 59 cops and 25 home guards in the reply," he said.