Mumbai: Rs 7 crore in WR, CR fines in 4 months shows desperation to use locals

MUMBAI: The Central Railway and Western Railway have together collected Rs 7 crore in fines from ticketless travellers on suburban trains in the past four months, showed statistics made available on Sunday.
Commuters and passenger rights activists said that it was “unfair” not to allow office-goers and daily workers on local trains and that many travelled without tickets “in desperation”. Activists said that as the local train service was the lifeline of Mumbaikars, lakhs depended on it for travelling to workplaces like shops, offices and business houses from far-flung places and these were among those fined in the past four months.
A CR official said that the rules were strict and only those in government jobs, on medical frontline duties and a few others were permitted by the state government to travel in suburban trains. “We have imposed fines of Rs 260 plus the train fare on every passenger caught without a ticket,” said CR chief spokesperson Shivaji Sutar.
Subhash Gupta, president of Rail Yatri Parishad, said: “It is ridiculous. The government has opened shops, restaurants and offices after the second lockdown. But it has denied train travel to those who will be going to these shops, restaurants and offices for work.
“Hundreds of labourers, workers from unorganised sectors and also office-goers depend on lcoal trains to travel from far-flung suburbs to their workplace. If shops are open, then their workers find it difficult and also expensive to travel by road to their place of work. Not everyone can afford an Ola or Uber daily to travel to the office. It is impractical to stop trains and expect people to travel by road to work.”
An office-goer, who requested anonymity, said: “I am in sales and have to travel from Kalyan to Dadar daily. It is strenuous to travel by bus and expensive to travel by cabs. If I do not report to work, I may lose my job. There is no alternative but to travel by train and pay fines if caught.”