In a city that is always on the run, as many as 6,008 incidents of lost baggage while travelling in local trains were reported in the past 16 months, revealed the data compiled by the Government Railway Police (GRP) helpline.
As per the data compiled between January 2011 till date, 6,008 calls of lost property were reported, out of which the police was successful in returning 2,026 bags, 40 cellphones, 101 laptops, 24 cameras, 462 grams of gold and `4.83 lakh in cash.
The police claim that tracking a train and deploying staff briskly is a difficult task. “Coordination with the police personnel deployed at the railway stations is a tedious task,” said GRP police inspector Avinash Pawar, who is in charge of the GRP helpline 9833331111.
Passengers who have lost their possessions said that the helpline has proved to be very useful. “We lost our bag containing valuables worth `5,000 in a local train after we disembarked at Kurla. The police attendants took the details of our compartment and successfully traced the bag when it reached CST,” said Akshit Nagada (17), a Ghatkopar resident.
Apart from tracing lost baggage, the GRP has helped curb incidents of mischievous urchins travelling in women’s compartment and helping the injured reach nearby hospitals after coordinating with the police personnel. “Many a times, the passengers are tense when they call the helpline. We try to pacify them and gather as much details as possible to trace a missing object. Important office documents, passports, cheques have been traced by the helpline,” said Mr Pawar.
Often calls pertaining to crimes witnessed by commuters are also fielded by the helpline and the information is relayed to the railway police control room and from there to the concerned railway police station.
The Government Railway Police claims that it only deploys policemen who are well-trained and adept at handling calls and providing relevant help to the callers with respect to their problems.