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DR. MANDA JAGANNATH (NAGAR KURNOOL): Respected Chairman, Sir, thank you very much for giving me this opportunity. I stand here to support the Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2003 brought before the House.

Ticketless travel is a very serious nuisance on the trains. Unauthorised travellers not only cause a lot of inconvenience to passengers, but also cause huge financial loss to the Government. This question has not been effectively solved in the fifty-five years of Independence.

It is very difficult to check and identify the ticketless travellers in the General compartments unless you deploy a large number of Conductors to enter these compartments and check each passenger for tickets. As the number of General compartments is very less, one always finds them overcrowded. It is very difficult even for a robust person to walk in to these coaches. This is not confined to the unreserved compartments only. It happens in the reserved compartments also several times. When we, Members of Parliament, travel in trains, we see that there is no check on unauthorised or ticketless travellers getting into the railway bogies and causing nuisance.

"The Committee also emphasise that the Ministry of Railways, through administrative instructions/regulation, must ensure that the powers to arrest and investigate and prosecute be entrusted to an officer not below the rank of Assistant Sub-Inspector. "

 I want to know whether this recommendation has been incorporated in the proposed Railway Protection Force Bill. That should also be provided.

Sir, in regard to the Indian Railways (Amendment) Bill where the penalty, which was enhanced in 1989 to a minimum of Rs. 50, is now being proposed to be increased to Rs. 250 as a deterrent measure. When this penalty is being enhanced, we will have to see that proper checking is also done. I can cite one example. Railway ticket checking staff were taken to a station in Madhupur in Jharkhand State. The Senior Divisional Commercial Manager had taken them there. This staff was beaten in the presence of Railway Protection Force and left. So, they left the place. With special force, they had gone there for special ticket checking. Then, they were sent by another train and admitted in the hospital. Such things are happening when they try to increase earning of the Railways from passenger traffic because the earning of the passenger traffic is subsidised by earning from freight traffic. The main earning is from the freight traffic. To increase the earning through passenger traffic, certain measures are required to be taken.