NASHIK: The Bhusaval division has registered the highest revenue of Rs. 33.74 crore, said an official. The Central Railway, between April and November, earned around Rs. 108.82 crore from passengers travelling without a ticket. The Indian Railways has booked more than 17 lakh people for travelling without tickets in the Central Railway zone.
The fines collected by the Central Railway include Rs. 26 lakh from 23,816 passengers for not wearing masks and violating the Covid-19 appropriate behaviour (CAB). Around 29,019 passengers were booked for not following the CAB, such as crowding at booking offices and spitting in railway coaches while travelling or in railway premises.
The Central Railways collected around Rs.17.73 crore from 465,000 passengers travelling without railway tickets on the suburban trains.
Chief Public Relation Officer of Central Railway Shivaji Shutar told the media, “The Bhusaval division has registered the highest revenue of Rs. 33.74 crore in terms of earnings followed by Mumbai division with Rs.33.20 crore.”
The officer further added that the Mumbai division earned Rs. 33.20 crores by fining people for violating the guidelines during travelling from suburban and non-suburban railway routes.
He further said, “It was our responsibility to check if people followed Covid-19 appropriate behaviour during travelling to prevent the upsurge of the deadly virus again. Many travellers were committing a crime by travelling ticketless and at the same time not following the CAB. In our endeavour to provide better services to rail users and curb ticketless travelling officials of Central Railway conducted intensive campaigns.”
4.68 lakh cases
The Bhusaval division recorded 4.68 lakh cases, Nagpur division saw 2.51 lakh cases and Solapur, Pune divisions registered 3.2 lakh cases. The Bhusaval division registered a record revenue of Rs. 33.74 crore, followed by the Mumbai division with Rs. 33.2 crore. They were followed by the Nagpur division with Rs. 16.73 crore and Rs. 17.15 crore by Solapur, Pune divisions and Headquarters special teams.
Spike in recovery
The sudden spike in the recovery is attributed to sustained special drives conducted across five railway zones in the last seven months, which saw record revenue of Rs.100.82 crore collected from 17.22 lakh passengers. Till November 2020, over 1.4 lakh passengers and a fine of Rs. 5.4 crore were collected from them. The fall in numbers was due to a nationwide lockdown. While in 2019, close to 27.21 lakh people were caught, and Rs 142.94 crore was collected as a fine.
