Pune railway

Tejas Squad

garbage

TTE

Railway Protection Force

B K Dadabhoy

A K Pathak

Gyanendra Gupta

Sameer Kale

Sameer Kunte

Yuvraj Gaikwad

H K Pandey

smoking

This firebrand gang from the Pune railway division aims to achieve what closed-circuit television cameras and repeated public announcements warning passengers against littering have failed to do — ensure a swachh Pune railway station. Thehas been unleashed upon unscrupulous commuters throwingwithin the station premises from Sunday. And, in a matter of five days, this squad has already caught 204 passengers breaking the rules, collecting a total fine of Rs 43,855.“The main objective behind forming such a squad is to alert passengers coming to the Pune railway station about their civic responsibilities and make them realise when they are doing something wrong. This squad has one officer, one health inspector, two Travelling Ticket Examiners () and two(RPF) constables. We will be adding two more woman TTEs to the team soon, so that there is no hurdle while taking action against woman passengers,” shared Pune divisional railway managerThe ‘Tejas Squad’ is headed by Pune railway station managerand has health inspector, TTEandas well as RPF constablesand. “The duty of our squad starts from 10 in the morning and goes on till six in the evening. Throughout the day, the squad takes rounds of all the platforms, foot overbridges, waiting rooms, parking lots and other station premises to keep a check on the passengers,” said Pathak.The squad primarily takes action against passengers throwing garbage and making the station premises dirty, unauthorised parking, spitting,, people without platform tickets or those travelling without tickets, trespassing and unauthorised vendors. The fine ranges from Rs 100 to Rs 500. Depending on the success of the ‘Tejas Squad’ at Pune railway station, more such squads will be formed under the Pune division to be deployed at various other stations.“We are taking many initiatives under our division for the last few months like cleaning drives at platforms, beautification of station premises among others. Even then, passengers keep on littering the place. So, we decided to come up with this squad to check and take immediate action against those breaking the rules,” added Dadabhoy.Speaking about the squad’s drives, health inspector Gyanendra Gupta told Mirror, “In the five days since the squad has been formed, we have taken action against various passengers at the station. Initially, most of them were not ready to agree that they had committed an offence and argued a lot with us. If someone throws leftover tea glasses on the platform or spits, we immediately catch that person. First, we point out their mistake, tell them the importance of cleanliness and then charge the fine.”There were mixed reactions from passengers about this squad taking action. Passenger Rajeev Mayekar said, “I often travel by train for my work and sometimes do make the mistake of throwing garbage or spitting. But, for this, the railways cannot fine us Rs 100 or more. They should first warn the passengers and only fine them if they repeat the mistake.” But Sanju Kajha, another commuter, hailed the initiative, saying, “It’s a good thing that the railways has taken up the issue of cleanliness seriously. People who soil the surroundings must face action. Many a time, I have seen people throwing garbage out of the train on to the platforms, illegally travelling without tickets and other offences, which need to be stopped. By taking such strict action, now passengers will realise the gravity of the situation.”