RPF personnel saved 114 lives in past two months

Rescued children from traffickers, helped pregnant women deliver in train, among other feats

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has saved 114 lives nationwide, including 10 in the South Central Railway (SCR) zone, as part of ‘Operation Dignity’ in the past two months. While two children were rescued from the clutches of human traffickers, 139 children, including 46 girls and 39 boys, were given protection on “coming in contact” with railway officials.

Senior officials, on Sunday, informed that the RPF is the immediate responder in case of any human trafficking and nationwide, 2,201 minors, including 1,488 boys and 713 girls, were rescued. The RPF’s women’s wing currently forms about 9% of the total strength and they had assisted pregnant women going into labour during train journeys for delivery under ‘Operation Matrishakti’. Sixteen such successful cases were reported.

While no such incident has been reported in the SCR region, the RPF assisted 45 persons under ‘Mission Sewa’ to help womenfolk, elderly, disabled and sick passengers as well as infants during the travel. In the SCR zone straddling Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and parts of Karnataka and Maharashtra, 31 criminals involved in 46 offences against passengers were handed over to the Government Railway Police.

Another 105 persons were apprehended and stolen railway property worth ₹3.5 lakh was recovered. Under ‘Operation NARCOS’, narcotic substances valued at ₹3.82 crore was recovered and 248 persons arrested. Here in SCR, 12 persons were apprehended and goods valued at ₹52.79 lakh was seized as part of the same operation.

About 27 special women teams are being deployed for the safety of women and 10 child help desks are functional with another seven to be opened soon in association with the voluntary groups for rescuing children, said SCR chief public relations officer Ch. Rakesh.

Luggage left behind by passengers worth ₹103.65 lakh belonging to 310 passengers was retrieved. Across the nation, 1,746 passenger belongings valued at more than ₹5.74 crore was retrieved. About 61 offenders were arrested and ‘live’ tickets worth ₹3.19 lakh were forfeited for illegal sale here.

While CCTV cameras have been installed at 59 stations, the RPF responded to 1,365 calls from passengers who complained on the ‘Rail Madad’ portal, toll free helpline ‘139’ and via Twitter in January and February this year.