Train passengers in distress need not go all the way to the railway police station concerned as a toll free number will be introduced in a month’s time for acting on complaints quickly, according to GRP Additional Director General of Police K.R.M. Kishore Kumar.
He told the media here on Monday, after screening a short film on do's and don'ts to ensure safe travel, that ''it will be hassle-free henceforth for passengers particularly women who lose their valuables or harassed by miscreants on moving trains and remain clueless in filing complaints''.
“They can simply call a toll free number to be announced in a month. We will be on our toes to take swift action,” he explained adding a special drive would be undertaken to alert the passengers on gangs from, among other states, Haryana, Odisha and Bihar striking on running trains.
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Most complaints received from women on running trains were related to theft or harassment and nuisance created by co-passengers in an inebriated condition, which could be best addressed only when acted upon immediately by passing of information to personnel of GRP and Railway Protection Force (RPF). The message would be also passed on to the train and station in-charges concerned.
Apart from visible policing, efforts were on to keep track of habitual offenders, who accounted for more incidents of crime on trains. Underscoring the need for people scrupulously following safety measures while travelling on train and while crossing unmanned level crossings, he said in Tirupati sub-division alone, 250 persons died in mishaps due to unsafe travel in 2014.