RBI man tears up illegal advertisements wherever he finds them

Seeing that no action is being taken against illegal posters in local trains, Ramchandra Karve, a senior officer with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has been following up on the issue himself, tearing up these posters in local trains whenever he finds them Mr Karve has been writing letters to divisional railway manager (DRM), general manager (GM) and even the Railway Board, but after getting no results from administration, he has been tearing up these posters when he comes across them. An officer of the rank of an assistant manager with the RBI, Mr Karve has made a list of all the babas advertising ‘miracle cures’ and written to senior officers of the Railways, including the chairman of the board. “It is shocking that by allowing the illegal advertisements to be pasted in the trains, the RPF employees do not feel ashamed of allowing misuse of railway property by anti-social elements. As the RPF employees receive their salaries for performing the duty of safeguarding the Railway property, they are helping these babas in pasting their advertisements inside the trains’ coaches which amounts to dishonesty towards their jobs and the nation,” he said. In his fresh letter to the chairman of the Railway Board, Mr Karve has demanded that a special team of honest officers be founded in order to apprehend the babas and the RPF personnel who help them advertise. “The illegal advertisements, besides resulting in defacement of the coaches, also result in depriving the Indian Railway of revenue, which is a very serious matter to ponder over,” he added. Reacting to the charges levelled by Mr Karve, the senior divisional security Commissioner of Mumbai division, Central Railway Alok Bohra said, “It’s not true. We have acute shortage of manpower still we have been doing our best and figures of action taken against illegal posters speak for themselves.” Passengers’ representatives have also raised this issue with the DRM in meetings. “I drew attention of the DRM in the recently concluded divisional railway users’ consultative committee (DRUCC) meeting held on September 4 and he assured me that action will be taken against the officials responsible,” said Shiv Kanodia, a DRUCC member of Western Railway. It should be noted that the contract for cleaning and washing of coaches which has been given to a private agency includes removing these bills and posters. When asked, a senior official said, “We will ask the agency to remove these bills immediately. However, he also added, “In such cases punishment is very less, a fine of '500 and jail up to one month, so this does not work as a deterrent to offenders.”