According to the CR authorities, the exercise, which proposes to put up photographs of touts who sell railway tickets unauthorised on the display board — the Railway Police have already been given the task of collecting the photographs by JN Lal, divisional railway manager, Mumbai division — would help commuters avoid being cheated by them. The passengers, the authorities say, would also be able to report to the police about touts.

“When I was posted at Kolkata, I did the same thing. As photographs were displayed, most of the touts ran away from the premises of the station. I think this idea will also work here in CST,” said Lal.

The photographs of the touts who have already been convicted would also be put up on the board which usually displays the photographs of wanted criminals.

“Touts are a major problem for the railway administration. We have conducted a number of drives to get rid of them, but their nexus with railway officials is so deep-rooted that they normally escape being caught. Even when arrested, in most cases, they are released after being charged a penalty,” said a senior official on condition of anonymity.

Some touts were arrested after Newsline in October 2006 reported about a nexus between junior grade railway officials and local touts and how they tampered with the VIP and emergency quotas. Also, the license of a travel agency that used touts for booking tickets, was cancelled.

When caught under Section 143 of Indian Railway Act (Unauthorised business of railway ticket), the minimum punishment for a tout is one month jail and Rs 5000 fine. The maximum, however, is jail upto 3 years and Rs 10,000 fine. “The problem is that these touts are very smart. They are very rarely caught, and even when they are, they complete their sentence and start touting again exactly where they were caught,” added the senior official.

Arrests made so far
* 2003 —12
* 2004 - 18
* 2005 - 55
* 2006 - 52
* 2007 - 42
* 2008 (January) -1