RailEnquiry

Mumbai: The Railway Protection Force’s decision to form dedicated teams and to intensify its crackdown on unauthorized hawkers and ticket touts is paying off, with increasingly more of these lawbreakers getting prosecuted.
    In the first six months of this year, 71% more cases were lodged against illegal hawkers on Central Railway than during the same period in 2011; on Western Railway, the rise was 35%. Similarly, 46% more cases were registered against tickets touts on WR in the first half of this year than during the period last year; on CR, the increase was 14%. Several lakhs have been collected in fines.
    “Hawkers plying on foot overbridges and entrances to stations cause a major hindrance for commuters. We formed two teams to focus on operations like these. Additional forces from divisions outside Mumbai were roped in to give the local personnel a sense of competition,” said a senior RPF official on the Western line.
    “Furthermore, we wrote to the BMC for a list of over-bridges owned by them and requested that we be granted authority to crack down on hawkers on these. Letters were sent to senior BMC officials containing names and cellphone numbers of specific RPF personnel who would conduct the crackdown,” added the RPF official.
    On the Central line, three local teams were formed and around 4,600 drives were initiated from January to June this year. Apart from illegal hawking, the teams kept a lookout for touts. In May this year, the RPF on CR busted a major racket in which confirmed tickets were booked under the Tatkal scheme by touts in Bihar and then courier to Mumbai by air. The touts charged a fee of Rs 1,500, which in some cases was as much as the ticket cost.
    “There’s a nexus between some RPF officers and hawkers. Bribes are accepted on a daily basis by these officers who in turn let the hawkers operate on a particular stretch,” said activist Sameer Zaveri. “Hawkers, at times, were found to have been involved in crimes such as sexual assault and pick-pocketing. Some of them double up as informants for robbers. With the constant threat perception to the railways, letting unauthorized hawkers operate is particularly dangerous since anti-social elements can pose as one and plant an explosive easily.”