ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Railways has collected over Rs 67.3 million from ticket-less passengers during a crackdown during the last two months with the help of railway police and train staffers.

“Around 51,347 passengers found travelling without tickets in different trains and collected the said amount from them, which is deposited in the official bank account of the department,” sources in the Ministry told.

They said that it was not the first time that action was taken on a large scale against ticket-less passengers, adding that these types of crackdowns had taken place daily.

The sources said that ticket-less travelling was illegal, and those who were caught without a ticket were charged a ticket price for the whole journey of the train besides the penalty. Those who do not pay are handed over to the railway police.

To a question, they said that Pakistan Railways Police claimed to have arrested a total of 3,843 accused due to their involvement in violations of rules and laws and also registered some 3,563 cases against them in eight Railways divisions over one year.

“Around 641 cases were registered in Peshawar Division, 561 in Rawalpindi, 1,037 in Lahore, 321 in Mughalpura workshops, 389 in Multan, 206 in Sukkur, 343 in Karachi, and 65 in Quetta Division,” they added.

They said the Railways Police Help Desks had been established at all the major railway stations across the country, and the performance of the Railways Police has been quite satisfactory during the last year.

Regarding the performance of the railway police, they said, “Police are performing duties efficiently despite the limited resources, and the performance of the railway police will be further improved to the optimum level during the next year.”