This helpline does not stop ringing

The Delhi Railway Police’s all-India 24x7 helpline number 1512 — started on July 17 — is doing a wonderful job with the control room receiving 50 distress calls within a week, said an officer.Drug, robberies and mobile thefts are the most common cases reported in the trains through these calls, said the officer. At least in 10 such cases, the Delhi Railway Police registered zero FIRs and sent them to their respective police stations across the country. 

The Railway Police of Delhi is planning to increase the staff and extend its service across all the 28 States of the country.The helpline is providing facility to lodge complaints against illegal acts occurred in the trains. The call can be made from any place while travelling which will directly be transferred to the nearest railway police station.    

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Railways) Sanjay Bhatia told The Pioneer that on an average, five to six calls have been received per day in the first week after its official launch. “The calls were from various parts of the country which include Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Assam. There were all types of calls. The numbers of mobile thefts, robberies and drug related calls were large,” added Bhatia.

The control room, located at the office of Railway DCP at Ajmeri Gate, started functioning with its testing  launch on May 1. It is being operated by 10 personnel at a time. The Central Government had asked all the States including Union Territories to set up control rooms in their headquarters to receive emergency calls from train commuters across the States. As of now, the emergency calls have been made on dialing 100 (Police Emergency Service) by the commuters.

Earlier, when an emergency call was made by a passenger on 100, the operator first transferred it to the concerned area police station from where it was further transferred to the connected railway police.