Rs 2.5 lakh in fines collected from passengers

CHENNAI: Pongal turned sour for Chennaites who chose to travel ticketless on Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) buses on Monday. Fines totaling Rs 2.53 lakh were collected on Kannum Pongal - the concluding day of the harvest festival, as people thronged tourist spots. According to official sources with MTC, Monday saw the highest per-day collection in terms of fine. “Average fine collection ranges from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh,” the official said.MTC fleets were packed with passengers on Monday with people from Chennai, Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur districts shuttling between tourist attractions spread across the three coastal districts.The authorities intensified their check on ticketless travellers by including 45 special teams for the purpose and passengers were penalised with fines higher than twice or thrice the usual ticket fare, an official claimed.Apparently, MTC recorded revenue to the tune of Rs 3.03 crore on Monday, an increase by almost 50 per cent. Average ticket collection of the State-owned Transport Corporation crosses Rs 2.13 crore.“We operated 250 buses in addition to the existing 3,180 to meet the demand on the festival eve,” said an official.