TTEs harass passengers at Howrah

KOLKATA:The Howrah station may have been declared the best maintained' station duringthe recent Railway Week celebrations, but passengers will vouch for the kind ofcorrupt practices that commercial staff adopt to make a quick buck. Travelticket examiners (TTEs) and booking clerks do not display name tags or identitybadges, thereby making it impossible for passengers to identify them or lodge acomplaint."The situation gets worse later in the evening and duringweekends. At night, people are in a hurry to board trains and the TTEs hunt forunsuspecting passengers who are uneducated and cannot challenge them. During theweekends, there is a huge rush of people returning home after spending the weekin the city. Many of them are poor people who do not know railway rules and fallprey to these unscrupulous staff. The TTEs demand money for luggage, even if itis within the permissible limit. At the booking counters, illiterate labourersasking for general class tickets are issued platform tickets instead. The momentthey try to board a train, they are confronted by TTEs and fined," a commutersaid.Benoy Sarkar, a passenger, complained that his family washarassed by TTEs while they waited outside the AC compartment of a Down train.Though Sarkar furnished valid sleeper class travel tickets, the TTEs insistedthey had travelled in the AC compartment and demanded a heftyfine.This correspondent also a commuter and a valid monthly ticketholder decided to check the situation for himself on Saturday afternoon. He wasaccosted by a person without any uniform, badge or identity card. The man askedfor the ticket. When the correspondent asked to see some identity, the man saidhe was the chief inspector'."Show me your ticket first and then Ishall show you my identity card," the man insisted. When the reporter insistedon seeing some identity, before showing his ticket, the man beckoned a RPF manand said, "Detain this man. He is refusing to show his ticket."Whenthe journalist started contacting senior railway officers, the man finallyproduced his identity card. He was S D Sharma, chief ticket inspector (CTI) ofHowrah. He, however, insisted that he had done nothing wrong in asking for aticket without sporting his identity card or badge. Eastern RailwayCPRO Samir Goswami, however, said all ticket checking staff and booking clerkshave to sport identity tags or badges while on duty.