In yet another laudable incident of Indian Railways’ authorities taking quick action based on complaints received on Twitter, a TTE who was taking bribes from passengers in return for seats was suspended. Govind Narayan, the passenger who reported the incident, was travelling to Bikaner in coach number S6 of Barmer Kalka Express on Saturday. Just after getting seated he noticed that a TTE was collecting Rs. 15 from all passengers in return for allotting seats to them.
Govind observed that the TTE, Shyampal, was not giving receipts to the passengers and nobody was asking for one. But Govind did; he repeatedly asked for a receipt and Shyampal simply told him that they are travelling to Bikaner together and he will give the receipt on the way.
Some time before reaching Jodhpur station, Govind decided to complain about him. He sent out a tweet marking the Twitter handles of Ministry of Railways, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Jodhpur.
General Manager@GMNWRailway i m in train14888 in S-6 m going BMR to BKN(Raj) TTE is takng extra chrg fr seat bt nt givng receipt #corruption
— govind narayan (@gnkiradoo) September 10, 2016
Just a few minutes after sending out the tweet he received a reply from the Ministry of Railways informing him that his complaint has been forwarded to the DRM’s office. That was it. In a matter of a few minutes, the DRM spoke with Govind and Vigilance Officer Mukesh Gehlot boarded the train at Jodhpur station.
His team spoke with the TTE, checked his record books, and a report of the investigation was forwarded to the DRM who then tweeted orders to suspend Shyampal.
@gnkiradoo @RailMinIndia @sureshpprabhu @narendramodi action has been taken against the duty staff.
— GM NWRailway (@GMNWRailway) September 10, 2016
The TTE was asked to get off the train at Merta station and the faith of railway passengers in the power of social media was once again strengthened. Govind told Aaj Tak that the TTE took money from many passengers without giving any receipt but no one was complaining about this. “I could not see this happening. I knew about the procedure of tweeting to the Ministry of Railways so I chose to complain there,” he said.
Featured image for representation only. Source: Flickr
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