- I Paid A Bribe
- 13 years ago
- 1660 views
Railway Dept mis-guided and Ticket collector took bribe
- Railways
- Transport of Goods
- Paid INR 736
In 2004 and again in 2005, I was tricked by Railways and made to pay bribe.
My home town is Chennai and I was studying in engineering in Tirunelveli. During the semester holidays I used to take my Desktop PC with me to and from college.
First time when I took it from Chennai to Tirunelveli, I was not aware that Desktop PC needs to be booked as luggage instead of carrying with us. No one (even the TTR) in Chennai asked about the PC. However in Tirunelveli, when I got down from the train, a Ticket Collector in the platform asked for a payment recipt for the PC. I told him that I was not aware of that and even the TTR did not ask. But he insisted me to pay a fine of 500. I told him that I am a student and I do not have 500 with me (and I really did not have). So since I was a student he asked me to pay 180 (all that I had in pocket) and did not give a receipt.
At the end of that semester when I went back to Chennai for semester holidays, I took my PC with me. This time, when I purchased my train ticket I inquired about booking my PC as luggage. However Iwas told that for PC there is no charge and I can carry it with me. I confirmed this many times in the counter and thought that I was fooled by the ticket collector last time. So I took it in the train from Tirunelveli to Chennai with me. This time the TTR in train, when he checked my ticket, asked about the box that I was carrying with me. I told what the person in the ticket counter told me. He did not believe me and fined me again for 300. I paid the fine.
Now when I had to go back to tirunelveli after the semester holidays, I went to the goods department in the Chennai railway station to inquire about book PC as luggage. This time I got a different story, that I need to pay luggage charges for the PC, but still I had to carry it with me (they will not bring it in the Luggage car). I said ok and paid 66 rupees as the luggage fee.
This time when I showed the receipt for 66 to the TTR in the train, he was laughing at me saying that there is no need to book the PC as luggage. Anyway I was happy that I did and got down at the Tirunelveli station. Again an ticket collector stopped me and asked about the PC. I was ready with the receipt for 66 and gave it to him. Shockingly he did not accept the receipt. He said that the Chennai railways has given a receipt for a lesser amount and he demanded 236 more (to make it 66). I was adament for sometime and did not want to pay for the railway dept screw-up. I stuggled for 30 min and ended up paying the money after the ticket collector seized my PC. :(