Title - Chennai : Railway police launches two helplines

If you face any problem at Central Railway Station or the Egmore Railway Station or even while on a moving train, just call the Government Railway Police (GRP) helpline 9662500500 or the Railway Protection Force (RPF) helpline 900316170.On Monday, the GRP and RPF came together to launch the helpline called as ‘Kaakum karangal' or ‘Protecting hands'. The two agencies have formed special teams to help railway passengers.The RPF and GRP have divided Chennai Central Station into six sectors and the Egmore Railway Station into three sectors and 24 policemen will be deployed in Chennai Central and 18 in Egmore, all of whom will be armed, said S.R. Gandhi, Senior Divisional Security Commissioner, RPF.In case passengers face problems such as harassment or chain snatching, they can call either of the two helplines.The person at the call centre will alert the respective team through Very High frequency (VHF) walkie-talkies.“We have set the reaction time as two minutes or earlier as any delay can endanger the commuter,” said V. Ponramu, deputy superintendent of police, GRP, Chennai Central.

Pilot project
He said that the helpline is a pilot project and that “the RPF and GRP in other districts may also try to emulate our model if it is successful.”Apart from the helpline, the GRP has also launched a Community Service Registration (CSR) facility in the trains.“If there is some problem for any passenger on a train, he call our helpline and our personnel on the train will register a CSR and give the receipt on the spot,” said Ponramu.The facility was inaugurated one week back and they have received nearly seven complaints.“Most of them are petty cases including cell phone missing complaints,” said Ponramu.