11 November,2010 07:56 AM IST | | Vedika Chaubey
Over Rs 32 lakh collected as fines from about 75,000 passengers as BEST steps up action against illegal commuting
The recent drive against ticketless passengers conducted by the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) has been the most fruitful ever, with over Rs 32 lakh collected as fine from errant commuters.
The drive was conducted in the month of August, September and October to fine passengers who were travelling either without tickets or beyond their ticket value.
The act of travelling without ticket is punishable by one month imprisonment or fine up to
Rs 200 under section 420 (II) of the BMC Act 1988
BEST collected a total amount of Rs 32,02,017 from 75,449 passengers in the three months that set a record for the highest number of passengers travelling without a ticket.
Dilip Patel, BEST committee member, said, "This is the highest amount of fines that has been collected by BEST. This is our revenue and will be deposited in the BEST fund for passenger welfare."
The record number finds perspective when compared to the fine collected from 69,000 passengers over six months before this, from January to June 2010, which totted up to Rs 29,80,068.
And the credit for filling up BEST's coffers goes to the 518 bus inspectors. Dressed in blue uniforms, they can be seen on bus stops waiting for ticketless travellers.
During this record drive, authorities decided to spread the inspectors at all stops so no passengers could escape fines.
"Our mission of catching each and every ticketless traveller was highly successful," said a BEST traffic inspector.
Sanjay Potnis, BEST committee chairman, said, "We took this step seriously because we don't want our passengers to suffer on account of invalid travellers. We worked on suggestions from depot managers complaining about invalid travellers."
According to BEST authorities, despite their attempt to control overcrowding of buses, they fail due to the large number of passengers.
A conductor plying in a South Mumbai bus said, "When we are busy giving tickets to passengers during rush hours, people take advantage of the situation.
u00a0
We can't move throughout the bus because of the overcrowding and some passengers prefer to stand near the door so that they can get down without buying a ticket."
The act of travelling without ticket is punishable by a month's imprisonment or fine up to Rs 200 under section 420 (II) of the BMC Act 1988.
This section can be applied to offenders when they refuse to pay fare, with an additional penalty that is 10 times the amount of bus fare.
There are 4,700 BEST buses which carry over 44 lakh people daily.
Bus vs Train
The Mumbai locals win this battle easily. In the month of September alone, Western Railway saw 1.2 lakh cases of ticketless travelling and collected fines amounting to Rs 3.24 crore.
While Central Railway, last month,u00a0 booked 1.6 lakh cases of invalid travelling and collected fines of Rs 6.03 crore.
4,700
The number of BEST buses plying in the city
44 lakh
The number of people who travel by BEST buses daily
