Massive crackdown on illegal hawking by N-E Frontier Rly

Siliguri: The Railway Protection Force (RPF) under the North East Frontier Railway (NFR) conducted drives against illegal hawking activities in stations, resulting in the collection of Rs 10.54 lakh in fines and the prosecution of over 1000 hawkers within two months.

Sabyasachi Dey, the Chief Public Relations Officer of NF Railway, stated: “The RPF of N F Railway has been committed to freeing station premises from illegal hawking activities. They conducted relentless drives across the stations against illegal hawkers, vendors, smokers, and litterers. Over the past two months, a series of drives were carried out in the five divisions of N F Railway, resulting in the recovery of Rs 10.54 lakh in fines.”

According to N F Railway, during April and May, a total of Rs. 3.20 lakh was collected as fines from illegal hawkers and vendors across the five divisions. Additionally, 1,077 hawkers and vendors were prosecuted. Furthermore, fines of Rs. 1.74 lakh and Rs 5.59 lakh were collected from individuals smoking and littering at station premises, respectively. As a result, 926 smokers and 2658 individuals engaging in littering were prosecuted.

A total of 75 major railway stations have been successfully cleared of illegal hawking activities. These include 14 stations, such as Katihar, Siliguri, and New Jalpaiguri, under the Katihar division; 14 stations, including Guwahati, Kamakhya, and Lumding, under the Lumding division; 18 stations, including Kokrajhar, New Coochbehar, and New Alipurduar, under the Alipurduar division; 13 stations, including Dibrugarh, New Tinsukia, and Mariani, under the Tinsukia division; and 16 stations, including Rangiya, Goalpara Town, and New Bongaigaon, under the Rangiya division.