Central Railway (CR) RPF head A.K. Singh has asked Mumbaikars to call the Railway Police Force (RPF) if they find the GRP helpline number unavailable.
The CR RPF has roped in Akshara, a non-governmental-organisation to sensitise its women personnel manning the help line number 182. They are also being asked to not dismiss calls from women who might otherwise already be hesitant to lodge a complaint in the first place.
The helpline number, 182, was announced in the railway budget by the Union minister Suresh Prabhu in 2015 and the line became fully operational in July 2015. “In case the GRP numbers are engaged, in case of emergency, people can always call 182 and we will direct our personnel to try to get help into the moving train or the platform from where the distress call was made, as soon as possible,” said A.K. Singh, the inspector general of CR RPF.
He said that, several times women callers hang up on the GRP helpline, 23759283 and 23759201, after a few tries when they can’t seem to get through the line. “By this, we are trying to ensure that no caller who calls the helpline number goes unattended,” added Mr Singh.
Another reason for the RPF to bring about more awareness is that there have been very few calls on 182 by women commuters in actual distress. “We receive around 20 calls by women each day, out of which only three are actually related to their security. But we have still not received any call where the commuter has said that she was molested or attacked. We want the commuters to know that these kind of complaints too can be made on 182,” said senior divisional security commissioner, Sachin Bhalode.
One of the unique features of this help line is that the call will be patched through only when the caller is standing inside a train or on a platform. This will enable weeding out a lot of hoax calls.
Akshara — the NGO that is helping in the sensitisation of the women personnel on the help line has said that there is a sort of acceptance by women passengers to be groped or touched by men while travelling on the suburban system.
