Family issues, bills queries top calls to RPF hotline

Mumbai: Barely 10% of the hundreds of calls made to the Railway Protection Force’s (RPF) helpline number 182 are security-related, force officials manning the Western and Central Railways have said.

A senior RPF official said staff have been complaining about such calls. “People call the emergency helpline to make enquiries about movies, mobile recharge, electricity, bill payments among other things. Sometimes, callers even report family disputes.”

The toll-free helpline number was introduced on March 14, 2015 for passengers facing security-related issues. “Calls received on the helpline number are forwarded to the RPF control room, which immediately alerts security personnel near the victim’s train or railway station,” the official said.

Last year, Central Railway had received 36,500 calls on the helpline number, of which only 25% calls could be serviced by the RPF. Similarly, Western Railway received 33,923 calls between January and December 2016, of which RPF could not contact 26,416 callers, and 4,901 calls were not related to railway security. In fact, only 2,606 calls were security-related. Staff manning the helpline control room said it really becomes difficult to handle some of the callers. “They just dial the number and start talking about issues not related to railway security. They start discussing their family problems and even ask us for suggestions,” they said.

Anup Kumar Shukla, Senior Divisional Security Commissioner (RPF), WR, said, “Calls to the security helpline number should be regarding security issues of rail passengers. Maximum calls are not related to security of passengers.”

Sachin Bhalode, Senior Divisional Security Commissioner, (RPF), CR, said, “We request people to not use this helpline for issues not related to railway security. Though we try to provide help if possible, people should use this for its actual purpose.”