TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The Captain of Ports suspended six ferry ticket collectors and sailors for not depositing money collected by them from commuters since last couple of months. River Navigation Department, last month had suspended seven ticket collectors.
Captain James Braganza said that despite oral warning and direction to deposit the collected amount, the staffers have not adhered to the same and accordingly directions were issued to suspend them. He informed that CoP is investigating into the issue after it was revealed that many ticket collectors have not deposited collected amount since January, this year.
“It is mandatory for the ticket collectors to deposit the collected amount with river navigation department within a week,” Braganza explained.
The suspended ticket collectors and sailors include-Krushna Chopdekar, Suresh Salgaocar, Devanand Tari, Apa Sawant, Prakash Zhalba and Clasito. An amount ranging between Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000 has not been deposited by them.
Port administration, earlier this year, had verified records of 30 ticket collectors and sailors and found that many were irregular in depositing their monies. Following a strict warning, many returned the amount.
There are 18 ferry routes, ferrying around three lakh commuters and 20,000 vehicles, every day. No ticket is charged to passengers, while two and four wheelers owners have to pay Rs 4 and Rs 10, each per trip. RND’s average collection per day on these routes is Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000.
Of the earlier suspended seven employees, four have deposited their collections, but RND is yet to receive Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 from the other three.
