DEPUTY Chief Minister R R Patil on Wednesday launched a dedicated Government Railway Police (GRP) helpline to benefit all the rail commuters across the state.
According to Krish Pal Raghuvanshi, additional director general (Railways), the helpline was started with the help of Vodafone, a mobile phone service provider. Now, the commuters in distress, can dial 9833331111, a number which according to the police is easy to remember. Though the helpline is based in Mumbai, commuters across the state can avail of the service.
Vodafone has also given us 76 telephone lines of which 38 would be in the city railway police stations and the rest would be installed across the railway police stations in the state. So, whenever, a distress call is received from anywhere in the state, we can immediately forward it to the concerned police station and the person in distress can get relief. This would also prove to be beneficial for women commuters, said Raghuvanshi.
Presently, except the control room of the Mumbai Railway Police, the railways does not have a dedicated telephone number for commuters in distress. Many a time, the phone is busy. So, commuter can dial the helpline which is easy to remember. With this, a commuter from Nasik can also be avail of help without dialling an STD number, added Raghuvanshi.
The GRP is also planning to popularise the helpline through advertisements in railway coaches.