Ticket Checking Drive against misuse of Sr. Citizen, Divyangjans Quota and Transfer of Tickets

48 Cases were booked and Rs. 58,630/- fine was realized

Commercial Department of Vijayawada Division, South Central Railway,  launched  a month long Ticket checking Drive against misuse of Senior Citizen quota, Divyang Jan quota and transfer of tickets from 16^th September, 2022. The objective of this drive is to bring awareness among travelling passengers, sensitize them on the above subject, and prevent cornering of berths by Touts and unauthorized agents and also to ensure comfortable and safe journey of bona-fide rail passengers. The drive was also aimed to plug leakage of revenue to the Railways. During the drive a total, 48 Cases were booked against the irregular travellers and Rs 58,630/- penalty was realized.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri P. Kiran Kumar, IRTS, Divisional Commercial Manager, Vijayawada Division appealed to the Passengers to go through the age, sex and other Concession particulars while booking through agents. He said that many passengers are falling in the trap of agents, who are misusing Sr. Citizen quota, Divyangjan Quota and also indulging in transfer of Tickets by providing fake ID cards to Passengers for securing confirmed berths for the journey. Shri P. Kiran Kumar, IRTS said that Lower Berth Quota was introduced by Railways to help Sr. Citizens and ladies above the age of 45 travelling alone or two passengers to get confirmed berths. “If Passengers  found travelling  with fake id cards, wrong declaration of age and misuse of lower Berth Quota, such berths shall be forfeited and shall be allotted to RAC and Waitlist passengers”, he added.

Generally, Lower Berth Quota are allocated as senior citizen quota berths, which  are lower berths earmarked only for male age of 60 years and above/female age of 45 years and above, when traveling alone or two passengers 

During the drive passengers were found travelling with fake ID cards, transfer of non-transferable tickets, conversion of system generated ticket to e-tickets and Misuse of Divyangjan Quota.  Cases of forging tickets to change age or sex were also identified. Similarly, there were several cases of passengers travelling with documents that did not match age criteria and possession of fake Aadhar cards. In all such cases, the defaulters were made to pay the full fare and penalty. And for misusing the lower berth allotted under the Lower Berth Quota, the berths were forfeited and allotted to RAC and Waitlist passengers.