Desperate commuters find innovative ways to latch on to train services

Issuance of QR based E-passes to essential workers still incomplete

@hepzia

Mumbai: With access continuously being denied to private workers for over five months, the desperation to latch on to Mumbai’s lifeline is manifesting in different ways.  On August 20, a 21-year-old Nalasopara girl was arrested on charges of cheating for forgery for trying to travel by train to Marine Lines using fake QR code. The girl was arrested from Borivali station after the police found her carrying a fake ID showing her as a BMC staffer, while she actually worked at a private electronic store at Marine Drive. 

In another instance, the railway police levied fines of Rs 265 to many passengers for travelling in special slow trains meant only for railway staffers. Trains for essential workers halt only on certain stations on the fast train routes, which is inconvenient for commuters. 

“These are not isolated incidents. There are scores of people desperately trying to take the local train’s everyday using various means. This is their majboori as the government continues to  neglect and inconsiderate towards those working in the private sector with benefits allotted only to the government servants,” says Kailash Verma, secretary of the Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh.  

Trains continue to be the cheapest and fastest mode of transport especially for commuters based in far flung suburbs. Verma, who is also a member of the Zonal Rail Users Consultative Committee says that this is tragic because trains run empty during non-peak hours in the day while people are kept out of it by citing social distancing measures.  

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 “Why can’t they just have staggered office timings because trains these days run empty post 11 am to 4 pm during non-peak hours. What about the loss of revenue to railways? What is the need for wasting so much of money to implement such a QR based system? Also, why this step motherly treatment to private sector workers who also provide essential services like private healthcare staffers or those with co-operative banks?” says Verma.  

On their part, the railways say they have already ramped up checking for unauthorised passengers using the suburban railway network because “People have started finding ingenious ways of beating the system. Some even have fake ID straps with Indian Railways written on them,” the divisional railway manager of Mumbai division, Western Railway, GVL Satyakumar told thenews21.

Twenty days after the QR-based Electronic pass system was officially set to be enforced, the process of issuance of QR codes to essential workers is still complete. The system was supposed to come into force by August 1 but continues to be pushed ahead for various reasons with lack of clarity on its implementation from all sides.

“As of now, the process of issuance of QR codes to about 1.5 lakh has been completed and the issuance of codes to about 70,000 more people is pending. Till this process is incomplete, it would be difficult to enforce the system. Considering the high volumes of people involved, we will probably do random checking for now. We are currently working on a system to implement segregation of those with and without QR codes,” informs Satyakumar. 

He added that the railways were in the process of procuring scanners to check QR codes soon though “mobile scanners are good enough for now.”   

Incidentally, Maharashtra continues with its process of issuing QR-marked entry passes for essential workers even as the state goes on unlock mode and has opened up various services for all like state transport buses.