Most of the calls received by the Railway Security Helpline 182 are from passengers losing their family members or relatives at railway stations in the Mysuru Railway Division.
“While travelling in a group, some members manage to alight at their destination stations while others may not. It is either due to insufficient halting time or rush of passengers entering and exiting the train. So, passengers make frantic calls to the security helpline seeking assistance to locate their missing family members or relatives”, according to a personnel manning the Railways Security Helpline in Mysuru.
“In most cases, parents alight and the children do not. In some cases, children manage to alight while parents fail to do so”, he added.
The security helpline, managed by the Railway Protection Force (RPF), helps the passengers by alerting the Railway staff at the next railway station and checking the CCTV camera footage.
The helpline, which was started about eight months ago, now receives about 20 calls every day from callers in Mysuru division. The other calls received by the helpline pertain to theft, eve-teasing, unauthorised entry of men in women’s compartment, unauthorised occupation of a reserved seat, consumption of alcohol, and gambling among other things. “With the Railway Security Helpline number printed behind the ticket, a lot of awareness about the helpline has been created among the passengers”, he added.
The Indian Railway’s Security Helpline number 182, a toll free number, which receives calls from landlines or mobile phones of all service providers, automatically reaches the Divisional Helpline depending on the location of the caller, said Divisional Security Commissioner, RPF, Mysuru, Mallikarjun.
As soon as the call is received, the RPF personnel, who are posted as escorts on various trains, are alerted about the complaint through CUG (Closed User Group) or through walkie talkies. The complaints are attended and the action taken is also reported back to the helpline.
‘It is mostly passengers, whose family members go missing while on the train or railway station, who make use of the helpline’
