Indian Railways refutes proposal to decriminalise begging in trains and stations

Clarifying its stance on begging, the Ministry of Railways on Sunday said that there is no proposal to allow begging in trains or stations. Reports had claimed that the department had moved a proposal to decriminalise begging at railway stations and trains under Railway Act 1989 as it was seldom invoked. The proposal was reportedly aimed at not allowing begging in any station or trains without penalty. As per India's Railway Act's Section 144 - if a person is found begging in a train or at a railway station they could face imprisonment upto one year and/or a fine upto Rs 2000. 

80 new special trains to run from Sept 12: Rail Board Chairman

Railways: 'No begging allowed'

Proposed changes to Railway Act

Apart from decriminalising begging, reports stated that Railways had proposed to remove the prohibition on smoking in a train compartment and instead levy a spot fine of up to Rs 100. Moreover, Railways had also proposed to do away with imprisonment for minor offences like travelling without tickets and riding on footboards, instead of only levying penalties. These proposed amendments were allegedly a part of the Centre's move to remove and amend redundant or outdated laws.

80 new special trains from Sept 12; clear timeframe for bullet train project in 3-6 months

80 New Special Trains

Eighty new special trains will be operational from September 12, reservations for which will begin from September 10, Railway Board Chairman V K Yadav said on Saturday. At a media briefing, the railway board chairman said, "Eighty new special trains or 40 pair of trains will start operating from September 12. Reservations will begin from September 10. These will run in addition to the 230 trains already in operation." The key factor in deciding the 80 new trains was the fact that there were many stations from where the migrant workers are going back to their workplace, Yadav said.

Central Railway to run special trains for candidates of NDA, NA exams from Sept 4 to 6

Meanwhile,  the Central Railways on Friday announced that it will run more special trains for aspirants of National Defence Academy (NDA) and Naval Academy (NA) exams on from September 4 to 6. These special trains will run between Solapur-Mumbai, Pune-Mumbai, Ahmednagar-Mumbai, Nashik Road-Mumbai, Bhusaval- Mumbai, Mumbai-Sawantwadi Road, Pune-Hyderabad, Kolhapur- Nagpur, Pune-Nagpur and Mumbai-Nagpur.  Similarly,  Indian Railways will run 5 special trains in Uttar Pradesh, 20 special trains in Bihar, local trains in Mumbai for NEET/JEE aspirants along with companions (parents/guardians) on the exam dates.

NEET-JEE exams: Mumbai Suburban railways to run spl trains for candidates appearing