Title - Beware of touts, ECoR tells passengers

Mass awareness drive takes up at railway stations in Berhampur and Puri

East Coast Railway has started a mass awareness drive to check incidents of looting of money and valuables from passengers by touts and miscreants during the festive rush in trains.

As part of this project, an awareness programme continued at Berhampur railway station on Monday. As per railway authorities similar drive was also taken up at Puri railway station. Such initiative had been started in Bhubaneswar railway station and during next few days such awareness building efforts would be taken up in other major railway stations under East Coast Railway.

The railway authorities had joined hands with personnel of Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) for the purpose. To draw attention of passengers and to pass on the message in entertaining manner, street play, folk dance as well as mock drills was organised at Berhampur railway station.

Assistant security commissioner of East Coast railway P.K.Mansingh said it has been observed that usually passengers are looted by miscreants who use intoxicating narcotics through food materials to make their victims unconscious. Usually these incidents increase during festive season like Durga puja. Mr Mansingh advised all to be cautious and not to accept any food materials from any stranger except from the authorised vendors by the railways.

The awareness campaign started with a realistic mock rescue of a passenger from the Visakha Express, who was shown to be drugged by some miscreants in the train. Most passengers at the station initially felt something real had happened as the actor was carried on a stretcher by policemen. It was followed by a street play ‘Bhul Hoigala’ produced by RPF, Berhampur, which showed up how miscreants befriend gullible passengers and make them eat food materials laced with a sedative. Most attractive part of the campaign was Dhuduki folk dance performance by Alok Bisoi and troupe, who used the popular folk form to pass on the caution of modern era. Pamphlets describing precautions that should be adhered by the passengers for protection against cheats and miscreants were distributed.