Agartala, April 11 (IANS / TIWN): More than 5.71 lakh railway passengers were caught travelling ticketless or with tickets of lesser-than-required value in the northeastern region and nearby areas in the 2016-17 fiscal.

About Rs 36 crore was realised as fine from them, an official said on Tuesday.

According to Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), 571,415 ticketless passengers were caught and penalised, up from 465,343 in 2015-16 fiscal.

NFR saw an increase of 22.79 per cent in ticketless travelling and related crime in the last financial year. 

The amount realised as penalty went up to Rs 36.12 crore in 2016-17 as against Rs 30.05 crore in the earlier fiscal, NFR's Chief Public Relations Officer Pranav Jyoti Sharma said.

The NFR serves seven districts in West Bengal and five districts in north Bihar besides the eight northeastern states.