Rs 561 cr earned from ticketless travellers in 19-20, revenue up by 38% in last 4 yrs

New Delhi: More than one crore passengers were fined for travelling without a ticket in 2019-20, earning the Railways a revenue of Rs 561.73 crore -- a growth of around 6 per cent over 2018-2019, an RTI application has found.

The Railways has earned Rs 1,938 crore through fines imposed on ticketless travellers between 2016-2020, a rise of 38.57 per cent from

2016.

An RTI application filed by Madhya Pradesh-based activist Chandra Shekhar Gaur revealed the details.

The Railways earned Rs 405.30 crore as penalties from ticketless travellers in 2016-17. In 2017-18, it recovered Rs 441.62 crore and it earned Rs 530.06 crore in 2018-19.

In 2019-2020, 1.10 crore passengers were found travelling without valid tickets.

The Indian Railways has laid down norms to curb ticketless travel.

A passenger travelling without a ticket needs to pay a minimum fine of Rs 250 along with the cost of the ticket. If a passenger refuses to pay the fine, the person is handed over to the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and booked under Section 137 of the Railways Act.

After that, the person is presented before a magistrate. The magistrate can fine him for Rs 1,000. In case the person still refuses to pay the fine, he or she may be jailed for up to six months.

A Parliament Railway Convention Committee had in 2018 raised concerns over the loss of revenue due to ticketless travel after inspecting the Railways' financial report of 2016-17.

Taking cognisance of the observation, the Railway Board directed zonal railways to intensify the drive against ticketless travellers across the country. The zonal railways were also asked to fix annual targets for Travelling Ticket Examiners (TTE).

Meanwhile, the Railways has cancelled more than 1.78 crore tickets since March this year due to the Coronavirus pandemic and refunded an amount to the tune of Rs 2,727 crore, a RTI has found.

The RTI has found that the Railways, which had suspended its passenger train services since March 25, cancelled 1,78,70,644

tickets.

The news agency has earlier reported how perhaps for the first time the Railways has refunded more than it has earned from ticket bookings, registering a negative passenger segment revenue of Rs 1,066 crore in the COVID-19-hit first quarter of 2020-21.

Last year, while the Railways had refunded Rs 3,660.08 crore for the April 1-August 11 period, it also earned Rs 17,309.1 crore in the same period.

This is the first time when the refunds were more than the amount earned by the Railways from sale of tickets.

An official explained that due to the suspension of services, tickets booked for travel in April, May and June were offered refunds, while fewer tickets were booked during these three months and the ensuing period due to the restrictions.