Railway TTEs go on mass leave

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Chennai: Ticketless travelers aboard trains starting from Chennai Central and Egmore have been having a field day since December 2.
At least one-third of the TTEs available in Chennai Railway Division have gone on sick leave protesting against the delay in creating new posts. According to TTEs belonging to SRMU, about 300 of the total 943 TTEs in the division have availed sick leave and most trains have been running on skeletal strength.
Another hundred TTEs would be joining shortly, if the management fails to intervene immediately, said a union functionary. As per railway board norms, a TTE should handle two sleeper class coaches and three AC coaches. If one were to operate as per the RB standards and given the acute shortage, each train in the division would be running with six unmanned coaches, the ‘striking’ TTEs claimed.
The protesting TTEs said they would require another 967 new posts in the division to fully man the trains and stations, which required traveling ticket examiners, ticket collectors and squads to keep tab on ticketless travel that netted over ` 14 crore in last year in Chennai division alone.