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Railways report significant drop of fake IDs used to commute in local trains

It is believed that the drop in the figure is due to the number of citizens who have taken the COVID vaccines. the decision announced has shown positive results as passengers registered themselves as per directions given by the government

Railways report significant drop of fake IDs used to commute in local trains
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Mumbai local train services resumed for the general public in August 2021, and the number of passengers who chose to travel on the trains increased significantly after the government announced the decision of allowing fully vaccinated citizens on the local trains. However, prior to this, citizens associated with the essential services and other allowed special permission were only allowed on the local trains. During this period, several passengers travelled on the Mumbai local trains with a fake ID or without a valid ticket. This increased concerns for the railways and strict action was taken by the officials to curb these instances.

However, since August 2021, the number of commuters with fake IDs have also reduced in the local trains. Data related to the same was shared by the railway authorities and a report regarding the same was published in the Hindustan Times. As per reports, over 1190 passengers were detained in June 2021 which further reduced to 533 passengers in August and 240 in September 2021. 

The publication quoted a railway official who said, “We witnessed the decrease in August as well when train services resumed for the general public, but in September the number has gone down significantly. We appeal to passengers to commute only through valid tickets and have their vaccination certificates with them to produce during inspections. 

Also Read: Western Railways warns citizens against using fake identity cards to travel on Mumbai Locals

As of now, over 35 lakh passengers have been using local trains to commute on a daily basis in September 2021, whereby over two million use the Central Railway (CR) services and over a million use the Western Railway (WR) services in September. This is also an increase in comparison to August 2021, where approximately 1.5 and 1.1 million passengers used CR and WR services respectively.

It is believed that the drop in the figure is due to the number of citizens who have taken the COVID vaccines. The state government of Maharashtra and the civic bodies have been conducting vaccination camps across Mumbai with an aim to vaccinate every citizen in Mumbai. However, the decision announced by the government has shown positive results as passengers registered themselves at the stations by showing the vaccination certificates and collecting the train passes as directed by the government.  

Also Read: CR collects a fine of INR 15 lakhs from 3,000 commuters with fake IDs

To tackle this issue, the government, in June 2021, launched announced the launch of 'Universal Travel Pass' with QR Code for travelling on local trains. As per reports, the new method was suggested by the officials to control the number of fake ID cards which are being used by passengers to travel in the Mumbai Local Train. The use of such IDs  increased during the COVID-19 lockdown.

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