Guwahati, Jan 17, 2025, IANS

Guwahati, Jan 17 (IANS) The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), which operates in the northeastern states, seven districts of West Bengal and five districts of North Bihar, detected 2,073 cases per day last year of ticketless or irregular travel, officials said here on Friday. A senior official of the NFR said that through fare realisation and penalties imposed on unauthorised travellers, Rs 17.49 lakh were collected per day last year. The senior official of the NFR said that railway ticket checkers accompanied by the Railway Protection Force personnel stepped up their inspection of ticketless or irregular travellers in the trains and railway stations. “The NFR has been conducting regular, intensive ticket-checking drives to ensure hassle-free and comfortable travel for all bonafide passengers. These drives aim to curb ticketless and irregular travel, which causes inconvenience to genuine passengers,” the official said. Sometimes executive magistrates are also deployed during the ticket checking in the trains. According to the official, during the period from April to December 2024, a total of 5,70,141 cases of ticketless or irregular travel were detected. “Such checks and drives resulted in revenue earnings of approximately Rs 48.11 crore in nine months of last year through fare realisation and penalties imposed on unauthorised travellers,” the official said. He said that in the same period (April to December 2024), NFR carried out eight surprise ticket-checking drives against unauthorised passengers with the assistance of railway magistrates. As a result, 448 individuals were prosecuted, of which 380 were found violating provisions of the Railways Act. They were fined accordingly, with the total amount collected during these drives amounting to approximately Rs 2.13 lakh in nine months. The fines included fares, penalty charges, and government levies. The officials said that passengers travelling without proper tickets or beyond the authorised distance are liable to excess charges and fares. In cases where passengers fail or refuse to pay on demand, they may face prosecution under relevant sections of the Railways Act, 1989. The NFR has appealed to the general public to travel with proper and valid tickets and carry valid identity cards to avoid inconvenience. Now passengers can purchase unreserved tickets from one part of the country to another through the Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) mobile application on their smartphones. Over 80 per cent of passengers under the NFR zone booked railway tickets online on their own, the official said, adding that the process boosted the paperless work.