All India railway helpline number 1512 has been launched. (Representational Image)
The All India Railway Helpline number 1512, which will help train passengers to register their complaints with police while travelling anywhere in the country, was launched in New Delhi on Friday by Union Minister Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary.
The helpline number will prove beneficial for the passengers and it needs to be widely publicised, the Minister of State for Home said.
The helpline presently covers 27 states and all Union Territories.
Lauding the Delhi Police for its initiative in launching the railway helpline number, Mr Chaudhary also commended them for less than one per cent crime rate in the national capital.
Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi said that the helpline initiative was a brainchild of Delhi Police. It was started first at Delhi Police's railway control room.
The helpline number 1512 was allotted across the country by the efforts of Delhi Police which took help of Department of Telecom in this regard, he said.
"Several inter-state coordination meetings were held to formalise the All India helpline number whereby control rooms were set up in the states. The helpline is also provided with geo-fencing feature so that a call by a railway passenger on it is received by the concerned control room in a state," he said.
Passengers can call the helpline number while travelling in train or at railway stations to report about incidents of crime.
Such calls will be received by the concerned control room which will relay it to the nearest railway police station or police teams on-board the trains for action on complaints, he said.
The helpline will also enable the railway passengers to lodge complaints without breaking their journeys in case of any crime, he added.
On the occasion of launch of the helpline, the Minister also made a test call to the control room.
Detailing various initiatives of Delhi Police for helping people, including Himmat App for women, Mr Bassi said that efforts were being made to work on the "smart" police station concept given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Working on the dream of the PM Narendra Modi we will not just convert one police station in each district into a 'smart' police station but make the whole of Delhi Police into a 'smart' force," he said.