May 1: Even as the railways in Mumbai find it difficult to crack down on touts operating outside reservation counters, they are faced with their own employees who double up as touts to earn an additional sum of money.

These employees indulge in activities like conniving with touts to sell tickets and cornering seats on unreserved bogies.

In the month of April alone, nearly 15 employees from various departments of the railways (both CR and WR) were caught red-handed in random checks conducted by vigilance department sleuths with the assistance of Government Reserved Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Force (RPF).

On April 1, a GRP constable was caught red-handed while cornering seats on an unreserved general bogie on the Dadar Gorakhpur Express. The same day, a licensed porter of CR was caught for a similar offence at Kalyan on the same train.On April 12, a Railway Police Force (RPF) constable was caught for cornering seats on Dadar Guwahati Express, while on April 16, a licensed porter was caught for the same offence. A railway reservation staffer of CR at Nasik was caught touting tickets on April 28. Railway staffers indulge in touting, black-marketing of tickets and other illegal activities to earn a few hundred rupees as pocket money, say railway officials.

The cases mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg, feel vigilance department sleuths. They say the growing demand for railway tickets has provided them with a parallel income, albeit unassured.A spokesperson for the Central Railway, Rakesh Saxena, told Express Newsline it is not possible to keep a 100 per cent check on such practices, but random checks are carried out regularly in which many have been caught.An official in CR's transportation department, requesting anonymity, said many employees take advantage of their positions.

For instance, a reservation clerk is the authority across the counter. If he feels like selling a ticket, he will, if he does not, it's his wish.A vigilance department official said there have been cases earlier when those caught have given authentic confessions. He said by and large, the income is used to manage their vices like chewing gutkha, smoking, gambling or visiting red-light areas.

The official said the parallel income may range between Rs 500 and Rs 2000 per month. A CR spokesperson said touting is not easily detectable. Any trick to nab touts red-handed fails as they are very alert and most of them know the officials at least by their faces.The recent protests of reservation clerks about the vigilance department making decoy checks to find if they have cash disproportionate to the sale of tickets underlines the fact that touting is rampant.

Senior officials, however, claim the railways vigilance department, in co-ordination with GRP and RPF, has started conducting random checks at reservation centres and has been able to nab several people.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.