S Rly cracks the whip on ticket touting

S Vishnu Sharma, INN/Chennai, @Svs037

The time was for activity in Southern Railway, as its Railway Protection Force (RPF) unit went ahead with cracking the whip on ticket touting on June 13. 

Sources point out that the drive against ticket scalping was taken up as a part of ‘Operation Thunder,’ a pan India movement against touting of railway reserved tickets.

Six divisions of Southern Railway namely Chennai, Salem, Madurai, Tiruchchirappalli, Thirvuvananthapuram  and Palakkad witnessed the drive. Sources further said the drive was taken up based on the directions from Railway Board.

Intensive raids were conducted at 23 locations including PRS centres and private travel agencies located in Arakkonam, Villivakkam, Thanjavur, Mayiladuthurai,Puducherry, Tirunelveli, Madurai, Salem, Coimbatore, Ernakulam, Nagercoil, Mangalore, Palakkad, to mention a few.

During the drive a total of 32 touts have been apprehended and booked under  Railway Act, 1989.  A total of 436 advance reservation tickets (including e-tickets)  valued Rs.53.2 lakh were seized by RPF. 

This includes 249 past journey tickets ( Date of Journey expired) valued at Rs.32.2 lakh and 187 future journey tickets valued at Rs.20.6 lakh. RPF wing of Southern Railway undertakes concerted efforts in curbing ticket touting activities by conducting intensive checks and raids periodically.