IRCTC booking: The advance reservation period for Railway tickets has been reduced from 120 days to 60 days, effective November 1, CNBC-TV18 reported, citing sources.
In September, the Railways Ministry said it was launching a "special" ticket-checking drive during the festive period to deter ticketless travel, as per a PTI report.
The Ministry wrote to General Managers of 17 Zones directing the start of the special drive between October 1-15 and October 25-November 10, and take "suitable action as per the Railways Act of 1989.
Notably, the move includes policemen, as they are among the top violators, it added.
"In our recent surprise check between Ghaziabad and Kanpur, we found hundreds of policemen travelling in AC coaches of various Express and Mail trains without any ticket. When we imposed a fine on them, initially they refused to pay and threatened us with dire consequences," a railway official said.
He added, “We remained undaunted and made them pay. The response of the passengers was very encouraging as they were happy and surprised to see action being taken against police personnel.”
Ticket-checking officials from North Central Railways Zone said that they want to focus on policemen and other unauthorised travellers because they create a nuisance for passengers with valid tickets.
Train ticket examiners, too, feel that policemen are the biggest nuisances. They not only break the law by travelling without a ticket but also harass valid travellers by forcibly asking them to share their berths and browbeating railway employees when confronted with taking action.
"Dealing with WT policemen is a real nightmare as they not only misbehave with us but often threaten to file fake cases to harass us," Sanjay Singh, President of Indian Railway Ticket Checking Staff Organisation (IRTCSO), said.
Singh added, “Of late, several videos were viral on social media platforms where policemen fought with railway staff, TTE and common passengers when confronted to produce valid tickets. I request the respective police departments to take exemplary action against such police personnel as they not only tarnish the image of police among citizens but also cause inconvenience for authorised passengers.”
Ticketless travelling is among the most common offences on the railways.
According to a response under the RTI Act by the Indian Railway to an applicant Chandra Shekhar Gaur, in the Financial Year of 2023-24, the Railway officials caught 361.045 lakh passengers travelling either without tickets or improper tickets and collected ₹2231.74 cr as fines.
Keeping in mind the passengers' comfort during the festive rush, the Ministry has asked zones "to nominate senior level officers to monitor these drives at divisional as well as zonal level. "Feedback of these drives may be sent to this office by November 18," the Ministry's letter said.
(With inputs from PTI)
