Traveling without a ticket by Indian Railways is a legal crime, but even then people do not desist from doing so. During the last few years, the number of people caught traveling without tickets by the railways has increased rapidly. Along with this, the earnings of railways from the fine collected from such passengers has also increased at a record fast.
Information received from RTI
Number of people caught traveling without ticket by railways And the figure of fine recovered from them has been revealed in response to an RTI. In a news agency PTI, citing RTI, it has been told that the Railways caught 3.6 crore passengers traveling with wrong tickets or without tickets in 2022-23, which is about one crore more than a year earlier.< /p>
Betiket rail passengers increased rapidly
According to the report, Madhya Pradesh’s social worker Chandrashekhar Gaur had sought answers to these questions from the Railways under Right to Information ie RTI. According to the RTI reply received by him, in the year 2019-2020, 1.10 crore people were caught traveling without tickets or with wrong tickets. Their number increased to 2.7 crore in 2021-22 and 3.6 crore in 2022-23. Whereas, in 2020-21, the year when the Kovid-19 epidemic spread, this figure was 32.56 lakhs. I also gave the figures of the amount recovered from such passengers. According to statistics, the Railways collected Rs 152 crore from such passengers in the financial year 2020-21, which increased to Rs 1,574.73 crore in 2021-22 and Rs 2,260.05 crore in 2022-23. In this way, in three years, the earnings of the Railways due to fine increased by about 15 times. More than the population of many small countries. If caught, the ticketless passenger has to pay a fine of at least Rs 250 along with the actual cost of the ticket. On being caught, if a passenger refuses to pay the fine or does not have enough money, then in such a situation a case is registered against him under Section 137 of the Railway Act and he is handed over to the Railway Protection Force ie RPF.
The lack of passenger trains is responsible
There is another side to this whole issue. Passengers often complain that they are not able to get tickets, due to which many times they are forced to travel without tickets. Railway statistics show that during 2022-23, about 3 crore passengers could not travel due to non-availability of confirmed tickets. These 2.7 crore passengers had taken tickets, but due to non-confirmation, they could not travel. This shows that there is a shortage of trains on many busy routes in the country.
Also read: Vodafone Idea does not get relief, High Court refuses to ban TRAI fine
Get the more latest Business news updates