Title - Hawking, begging accounts for 36% of prosecution on CR till May - The Times of India

MUMBAI: Hawking and begging accounts for a whopping 36% of the total prosecution on Central Railway from January to May this year. Railway Protection Force (RPF) claims to have upped drives and surprise checks. Thirty one persons were jailed and Rs 26.98 lakh was netted in fines. But certain stations like Kalyan remain a problem.

Activists say that many portions of Kalyan station have been encroached by hawkers; they are visible on platforms 2 and 3, on the foot overbridge connecting to a skywalk and a passage near the ticket counter. Commuters are inconvenienced the most during peak hours.

A scribe recently shot a video showing hawkers counting out currency notes at Kalyan, as female RPF personnel and home guards stood by with an open wallet. "The assistant security commissioner (Kalyan) has been asked to look into the matter. If our personnel are found guilty of taking a bribe, appropriate action will be taken against them," said Alok Bohra, senior divisional security commissioner, RPF (CR). Hawking is also a concern at Kurla, Dadar and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) stations. In fact, gutkha vendors were recently nabbed from LTT by the Government Railway Police (GRP).

Besides hawking, trespassing, which snuffs out dozens of lives everyday on the tracks, accounts for 9% of the total prosecution by the RPF from January to May. "Incomplete fencing and boundary walls in several portions on the Central line is the reason commuters take short-cuts across the tracks. Western Railway has almost completed fencing and brought down fatalities caused by trespassing," says activist Sameer Zaveri.