BANGALORE: Despite initiatives taken by BMTC authorities to create awareness among the passengers to travel with bus tickets, it seems a few stubborn passengers have the tendency to travel in the BMTC buses without purchasing tickets. Between April and October 2009, a total of 69,628 ticketless passengers were penalised and collected Rs 57,26,081 penalty from them. On an average, about 332 ticketless passengers are detected every day by BMTC’s Line Checking Section (LCS)^Out of 76,105 trips operated daily by BMTC, a mere 1.32 per cent of trips are being checked by LCS^Speaking to Express, Chief Security and Vigilance Officer of BMTC SK Bellatti said that as per the Motor Vehicle Act (MVA), it is the duty of the conductors to ensure that all the passengers travelling in the bus are issued tickets and check the bus passes for validity, before the bus reaches the next stage point. “If ticketless passengers are found in the bus during the time of line checking, memo will be issued to the conductors and a case will be booked against them for dereliction of duty,” he added. The officer recollected that the Delhi government had constituted mobile courts there in the 1970s for cases of ticketless travel in public transportation. “In Karnataka this couldn’t be done as it is considered a petty offence by our police,” he said. Bellatti said that as per the MVA, penalty will be imposed on ticketless passengers 10 times the fare amount or up to a maximum of Rs 500. “If the passengers fail to pay the penalty amount, they can also be arrested and handed over to the police for prosecution,” he informed^The officer said that if the case is minor, the amount will be recovered from the conductor’s salary^“Otherwise, BMTC will postpone the increment of the conductor or reduce the wage. If the conductor is a serious defaulter and has not improved, departmental inquiry will be initiated,” Bellatti said^Depending on the gravity of the offence and after verifying past default history, the conductor may also be dismissed from service.