Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Students with e-tickets fined for want of specified identity cards

MADURAI: People below 18 years are at a disadvantage while making railway journeys with e-tickets, as they end up paying penalty for want of specified identity cards.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation has made it mandatory for passengers to carry photo-identity cards while travelling on e-ticket. It has prescribed driving licence, PAN card, voter identity card, passport and any other photo-identity card issued by the Central or State governments as bona fide cards. “If the passenger is found travelling without the original copy of any one of these cards, he will be considered travelling without ticket and fined,” said a senior railway official.

With people below 18 years not eligible for any government-issued cards, except the PAN card and passport, many students studying in outstations find it difficult to make use of the e-ticketing facility, while travelling alone.

A few cases of students being penalised for want of “prescribed” cards have come to light. While the students pleaded with travelling ticket examiners to consider the identity cards issued by their colleges as proof, the officials did not agree. Though the students claimed that they had travelled with the same cards earlier, the TTEs did not spare them. “We have clear instructions on which cards should be accepted. If some TTEs permit such identity cards, it is at their own risk,” said one TTE.

Probably, the officials had not taken this issue into consideration while framing the rules. The rules needed to be further refined and simplified to suit the requirement of travellers, the official said. “Not all students have a PAN card or passport. The rules need to be a little more liberal.”

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