Mumbai,India – A 30-year-old attendant of AC coach was sentenced to 10 days of simple imprisonment and penalty of Rs 1,500 has been imposed on him by a Ratnagiri judicial magistrate on charges of supplying water from the lavatory of the coach to the passengers on board on the Tirunelveli-Jamnagar Express. The Railway Police Force (RPF) has initiated a massive operation to prevent impure water supply in the trains.

The convicted attendant identified as Ravindra Vyas hails from Rajkot and has been serving as a contract worker. After he was nabbed by the authorities, a case was registered against him on the charges of illegal sale of an article under the Indian Railway Act’s Section 144(1).

According to the Times of India, Girish Karandikar, spokesman of Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd (KRCL) said that that the central traffic control room informed the RPF authorities of Ratnagiri about the illegal sale of packaged drinking water on the Tirunelveli-Jamnagar Express with the number19577. B3, a three-tier AC coach on the train, was inspected at Ratnagiri station and a complaint from a passenger who received impure water was registered.

Reportedly, Vyas boarded the Tirunelveli-Jamnagar Express at Madgaon and sold unsealed packaged drinking water bottles to the passengers. One of the passengers onboard got suspicious about the unsealed water bottles. He approached the authorities and registered a complaint regarding the matter, following which Vyas was arrested.

Section 144 of the Railways Act, 1989

Under sub-section 1 of Section 144 of the Indian Railways Act, any person who indulges in sale of any article in any railway carriage except in compliance with the terms and conditions of a permit license granted to him or her by the railway authorities shall attract a punishment of imprisonment which may be extended to one year, or with fine up to two thousand rupees, or with both.

Credit:Times of India