Durga Puja, Diwali and Chhath Puja will see the railways operate 6,000 special trains between October 8 and November 8.

The Indian Railways has decided to operate 6,000 special trains between October 8 and November 8 amid the festivals of Durga Puja (October 9), followed by Diwali (October 31) and Chhath Puja (7 and 8 November). As the festive season approaches, Indian Railways has announced plans to accommodate over a million passengers traveling home to celebrate these festivals. Additionally, to manage the surge in demand during festivals, additional general coaches will be added to 108 trains, with a total of 12,500 coaches approved to cope with the increase in passengers.

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on September 27 that routes to states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal usually experience huge crowds during these festivals, and to accommodate these travellers, Indian Railways will operate near 6,000 special trains. Vaishnaw said a total of 5,975 special trains have been organized for this year’s festivities, compared to 4,429 trains last year. “This will facilitate more than one million passengers to return home during this puja,” PTI was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, the Railway Ministry decided on September 27 to launch a special ticket checking drive during the festive season to check ticketless travellers, including police officers, as they are among the major violators, railway officials said, PTI reported.

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On September 20, the Ministry wrote a letter to the director generals of 17 zones asking them to start a special campaign against ticketless and unauthorized travelers “for the period from October 1 to 15 and from October 25 to November 10 ” and to take appropriate measures as provided in the provisions of the Railways Act, 1989.

Railway trade officials who are part of the regular drive in various railway divisions have said that along with common people, police officers will also be on their radar during festive hours as they are among the major offenders.

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“In our recent surprise check between Ghaziabad and Kanpur, we found hundreds of policemen traveling in AC coaches of various Express and Mail trains without any tickets. When we imposed a fine on them, they initially refused to pay and threatened us with dire consequences.” , a railway official told PTI.

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He added: “We did not get discouraged and made them pay. The response from the passengers was very encouraging as they were happy and surprised to see that action was being taken against the police personnel.” Ticket control officials of the North Central Railway Zone said they want to focus on policemen and other unauthorized travelers because they trouble passengers with valid tickets.

When asked about the number of policemen caught traveling without tickets in the recent past, a Prayagraj Division railway spokesperson said: “However, we do not maintain separate data for policemen in the last three months i.e. June, July “. and in August, 1,17,633 travelers were fined Rs 9,14,58,171 in Prayagraj division in NCR zone alone for traveling without a ticket.” Railway ticket examiners also consider policemen to be the biggest nuisance as they do not Not only do they break the law by traveling without a ticket, but they even harass valid travelers by forcibly asking them to share their berths and intimidate railway employees when asked. asks them to act.

(With contributions from the PTI)