Railways fine train qawwals and beggars, collect Rs 13 lakh

The urchin or the men who sing bhajans for a living on the Mumbai local train are part of the 1035 people booked for singing qawalis, bhajans to beg and for playing cards in local trains. The Central and Western Railways has managed to collect nearly Rs 13 lakh from them as fine in the last 5 years.

Mansoor Darvesh, a city based RTI activist , who has been travelling in the local train for last 40 years claims he was forced to file a RTI when local authorities did not do much despite his repeated complaints. Darvesh's RTI had sought details of total number of persons arrested for begging by singing bhajans,qawalis and for playing cards in local trains from January 1, 2011 to May 30, 2016. He also sought to know the amount collected from them as fine.

In reply to the applicant's query, Central Railways stated that a total of 7 persons have been arrested for singing and begging while 378 persons have been arrested for playing cards over a period of 5 years. It also stated that a total fine of Rs 1,10,985 was recovered from them. Western Railways in its response stated that 6 persons have been arrested for singing in local trains, while 644 persons have been arrested for playing cards.It added that a total fine of Rs 11,51,878 was recovered from them.

Darvesh, who is not contended with the reply claims that a number of people performing these illegal acts have been overlooked by the Railway authorities.

"I am travelling in local trains for the last 40 years and I have noticed a steady increase in people engaging in these illegal acts. Going by the number of people booked, the Railway police seems to have failed to notice them" he said.

"The authorities need to take the issue seriously as such miscreants cause inconvenience to thousands of passengers," Darvesh added.

Central railways

Arrested for---
Singing and begging: 7
Playing cards: 378
Fine recovered: Rs 1,10,985

Western railways

Arrested for--
Singing and begging: 6
Playing cards: 644
Fine recovered: Rs 11,51,878