Monday, Apr 11, 2005
Monday, Apr 11, 2005 |
| Karnataka | ||||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Tamil Nadu |
Andhra Pradesh |
Karnataka |
Kerala |
New Delhi |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Engagements |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Karnataka
-
Bangalore
By Govind D. Belgaumkar
A woman trying her hand at the platform ticket-vending machine at Bangalore City Railway Station. (Right) Fake coins retrieved from the machine. — Photo: K. Gopinathan
BANGALORE, APRIL 10. The initiative of the Railway authorities in installing coin-vending and platform-ticket vending machines at the Bangalore City Railway Station seems to have run into trouble. Fake coins and newspaper pieces cut to the size of currency notes are being fed into the machines, which is causing temporary breakdowns. Officials of the South Western Railway (SWR), Bangalore Division, have been receiving frequent complaints from passengers that the two machines are not functioning properly. It has come to their notice that some people have been tampering with the machines. On receiving one such complaint, an official rushed to the machine and removed papers from it when this reporter visited the railway station recently. Fake currency notes or pieces of paper interfere with the working of the coin-vending machine as it ceases to function once it detects a fake note, an official said. However, the machine has also developed a technical problem. It has stopped vending coins for 20-rupee notes. A notice put up on the machine requests people not to insert 20-rupee notes into the machine. Another problem is that it has stopped issuing five-rupee coins. When a person inserts a 10-rupee note, it gives 10 one-rupee coins. This is causing shortage of coins for the Railway authorities. It is difficult to feed it with so many one-rupee coins, the official said. Besides, people do not like to carry so many coins with them. The manufactures of the machine hold "software failure" responsible for the problem, and have promised to replace the machine, the SWR official said. In the case of the platform ticket-vending machine, it is said that some persons insert fake, lightweight coins that match the size and shape of one-rupee coins. SWR officials, who showed such coins to The Hindu , said this has been causing frequent hang-ups. Every time this happens, the authorities will have to open the machine and reset it. The machine stops functioning for another reason: shortage of paper. The authorities only hope that people will stop tampering with the machines. "I am sure we will overcome these teething troubles," an SWR official said. People at the railway station said the machines should be equipped with such software which will help it identify and reject fake currency notes and coins instead of hanging up every time a counterfeit note is inserted into the machine.
Printer friendly
page
News:
Front Page |
National |
Tamil Nadu |
Andhra Pradesh |
Karnataka |
Kerala |
New Delhi |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Engagements |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | The Hindu Images | Home |
Copyright © 2005, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|
