Ticket Collectors

Railway ticket checkers are being provided body cameras with the aim to ensure transparency in the process and prevent violent and unruly behaviour on board trains, officials said. As a pilot project, the Central Railway has procured 50 such body cameras and provided them to ticket checkers in the Mumbai Division. Procured at a cost of Rs 9,000 each, these body cameras can record about 20 hours of footage. Officials say that if the pilot project in Mumbai is successful, it will be replicated across the rail network. Body cameras were first worn by police in the United Kingdom in 2005 and have since been adopted by numerous police forces and law enforcement agencies worldwide. Several police forces in India also use body cameras. "The body cameras would help maintain transparency during ticket checking and prevent misbehavior and violent acts. The initiative would also help detect any discrepancy during ticket checking, particularly in the event of complaints, and would further ...

Tiffs between commuters and ticket collectors at railway stations in Mumbai are nothing new. Now there is a Vijay Mallya angle to it. In the past two days, ticket collectors, especially those on duty at the crowded Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and Churchgate station, have been confronted by irate commuters if they asked the latter to furnish their railway pass or ticket. The commuters dared the ticket collectors to bring back Mallya, who has fled the country leaving behind a trail of unpaid dues, before fining them for not buying a ticket or not carrying their passes.