Hunt on for 'Mawa Man' as WR goes tough on spitting

After a post of a man spitting pan masala in a local train went viral, the Western Railway (WR) officials are trying to track the commuter, and have revealed that since January, 2,057 persons have been booked for spitting and littering under section 198 of the Railway Act, which attracts a fine of Rs 500.

A post by Vishnu Das, a designer — 'Meet the super hero of Mumbai... Mawa Man' — went viral on Facebook last week. Das was on board the 8.32 pm Andheri-Virar train on August 19, when he noticed a man chewing paan masala and spitting through the train window.

"It was so disgusting that I decided to click pictures and shoot the video. I also informed the police helpline but no help could reach. I posted it on Facebook, in the hopes that at least some people who see it refrain from spitting through the train window," he said.

Ravinder Bhakar, Chief Public Relations Officer, WR, said, "We will track the person in the video and fine him for spitting from train window."

Meanwhile, WR revealed that in 2015, 1,328 persons were booked under Section 198 of the Railways Act and collected Rs 1.17 lakh in fines. In 2016 officials collected Rs 3.11 lakh in fines, this year, and this year, Rs 3.92 lakh has been collected so far from 2,057 persons.

Andheri railway station tops the list with 191 cases filed and Churchgate with 163 cases comes second. "We will be aggressively tackling the issue of littering and spitting at railway stations. We have asked station masters to fine persons found spitting," Bhakar said.