With an average of 300 tickets issued per shift in the City stations, it is simply not possible for any counter clerk to verify the veracity of each currency note submitted. Despite the presence of 76 fake note detector machines in the stations spread across the City, counterfeit notes continue to make way into the railway chest.

The number of counterfeit notes presented now have gone down but the value of the notes submitted are on the higher side. Unlike the Rs 100 fake notes submitted earlier, the denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 are notes for which largely duplicate ones are submitted. During the current financial year, the Bangalore division has already suffered a loss of nearly Rs one lakh due to submission of fake notes. This is a figure much higher than the combined loss suffered by the division during the previous four years.

Additional Divisional Railway Manager (ADRM) Deepak Chhabra said, “We are going all out to popularise e-ticketing and internet booking so that the issue of handling currency notes and its associated problems can be reduced considerably.”

RBI to the rescue

A major problem the ticketing staff faced earlier has been done away with, thanks to a meeting two months ago by the commercial department officials of Railways with top RBI officials in the City, Chabbra said. “They have now clearly instructed the police not to harass railway staff who come in to file an FIR regarding receipt of counterfeit currency,” he added. Going strictly by rules, the railway staffer is expected to file an FIR when he comes to know about the counterfeit note in his or her possession. “However, being unable to trace the correct person against whom an FIR had to be filed, the staffer had a tough time at the hands of the police.” This has now been redressed, he added.

There is another side to the problem of booking an offender. According to K V Mani, Chief Reservation Supervisor (CRS), “Even if the person handing over the counterfeit note is identified at the spot, the chances are very high that the individual has been duped by someone else and is not a genuine offender.”  As a case in point, he recalled the case of a woman in her 50s’ who had come to Yeshwantpur station some time ago to book a ticket to Ajmer. “She handed over a duplicate note to me and when I  pointed it out to her, she realised that her tenant had duped her with these notes when paying the house advance to her,” he said.

Pressure on clerk

Another supervisor recalls times when customers pick up fights with clerks who bring to their notice that the note is fake. The counter clerk has a tough time convincing them about it.

The RBI has also conducted a major training session for counter clerks to help them identify duplicate notes easily.  Despite the presence of detectors, they are now largely used only when suspicion about a note arises as it is just not possible to put in every note through the machine, a top official points out. It is mostly Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes which are cross-checked with them now. “There is also much pressure on the clerk to complete a ticket booking as fast as possible due to the long winding queues at stations,” he points out.

However, the onus is very much there on the clerk whenever he or she accepts a counterfeit note by mistake. This statistic will serve as an indication. For the last five years, the Bangalore division has incurred a loss of Rs 1,69,000 due to fake notes. A sum of Rs 1,18,000 has been cleared by the clerks from their own pockets and the remainder is still pending.

Fake currency detectors today play a vital role in identifying duplicate notes. While some counters have an individual fake detector, some have one for two counters. Both reservation as well as booking offices are equipped with them. These detectors have an ultraviolet light in them and when a genuine note is placed under it, dots can be spotted clearly on the note. The City station has the maximum number of detectors–38, followed by Cantonment with 14 and Yeshwantpur with 7. Other reservation offices which have them are K R Market (1), M G Road (1), Indiranagar (3), Koramanagala (3), Banashankari (3), Jayanagar (3) and Vijayanagar (3).

FAKE CURRENCY DETECTORS

 Fake currency detectors today play a vital role in identifying duplicate notes. While some counters have an individual fake detector, some have one for two counters. Both reservation as well as booking offices are equipped with them. These detectors have an ultraviolet light in them and when a genuine note is placed under it, dots can be spotted clearly on the note. The City station has the maximum number of detectors–38, followed by Cantonment with 14 and Yeshwantpur with 7. Other reservation offices which have them are K R Market (1), M G Road (1), Indiranagar (3), Koramanagala (3), Banashankari (3), Jayanagar (3) and Vijayanagar (3).