CHENNAI: When 35-year-old Sundarapandian was on his way to his hometown on the Kanyakumari Express on the night of February 14, he had no idea that his wife would move into premature labour. As the train crossed Ariyalur around 9.45 pm, the pain started aggravating that Sundarapandian had no other option but to call up the Government Railway Police (GRP) Helpline at Egmore, which was roughly 280 kilometres away, seeking medical help for his spouse. Immediately, the message was passed on to the Tiruchirapalli GRP personnel, who, in turn, alerted the Station Master at Lalgudi, the station closest to the moving train. Despite Lalgudi station not being one of the train's regular stops, the Express train was halted for a while to shift the woman to a waiting ambulance.This is one of the classic examples of how useful the GRP Helpline 9962500500 has turned out to be. Started with the idea of providing assistance to passengers moving trains during emergency situations arising mostly due to crimes, the helpline has now turned out to be of immense help to those in medical emergencies as well.According to GRP sources, the helpline receives calls for various emergencies including nuisance, missing passengers or baggage, theft, movement of suspicious persons, doping, smuggling and even complaints of staff taking bribes to relocate confirmed tickets."There was this call complaining of a TTE taking bribe for giving confirmed tickets. But, when we sent out our personnel to check it out, the information was found to be false," an officer manning the helpline said.Anonymous callers even dial the helpline to tip off the police about smuggling of rice meant for the Public Distribution System. Of late, the helpline has been receiving more calls pertaining to mobile phone loss and missing laptops on moving trains. When a complaint is received, the beat constables on escort duty are sent to the coach for assisting the commuter.A GRP official said, "We are also receiving several complaints from disabled persons, whose complain that seats meant for them are being occupied by others. At times, we get complaints from passengers who had cross ed the State border, travelling in trains that would have originated from Tamil Nadu," he added.The helpline launched in December 2007 had received 3,747 calls in 2011 and a little over 950 during the corresponding period in 2010.When contacted, R Sekar, Additional Director General of Police, GRP, informed that steps are being taken to publicise the helpline among travellers. Stickers with the helpline number are pasted in the compartments and on pamphlets, he added.
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