New Delhi: Rakesh Sharma is known as a saviour in railways. Working as a Station Master at the New Delhi Railway Station, Mr Sharma has been going beyond the call of his official duties to reunite passengers with their lost luggage.
So far, he has helped 430 passengers find their lost luggage. This may not fall under his purview, given the is nature of his job, but Mr. Sharma sees this as a way to serve people.
Rakesh Sharma hails from Gurdaspur, Punjab, and started his job in Railways at the age of 24 but has been taking initiative to help people find their lost baggage since April 2016. It was in April that year that he first got involved with helping a passenger his lost luggage.
Speaking to NDTV, Station Master Rakesh Sharma said, “So far, we have located and brought back the lost luggage of as many as 432 passengers. When the porters bring us the luggage left behind in the pantry car or on the seats, we ask them for the coach number. Then we use either the Passenger Name Record (PNR) number or any ID cards like Aadhaar or PAN, to locate the passenger. That is how we deliver their luggage.”
Till Mr. Sharma took up this cause, all lost or missing luggage of passengers would be deposited in the railway station's Lost Property Office. And the luggage would remain there till someone came to claim it. But Rajesh Sharma proactively hunts down the passenger whose missing luggage it is, be it Indian or foreigner. And it isn't just the PNR he uses to track down the passenger, he actively uses social media as well. Needless to say, his selflessness is earning him a lot of goodwill.
While talking about Rakesh Sharma's impeccable service, Udit Saumya, one of the railway passengers said, “I thank Mr Rakesh Sharma, who is the station manager at NDLS for bringing back my lost purse. I had lost it when I was boarding the train at the cantonment. It was found by the two coolies. Hemraj and Shiv Charan. They submitted it to the station manager. And this gentleman has been really kind. He immediately contacted me. He sent me the wallet through Himachal Bhawan.”
Nikunj Jain, a resident of Friends Apartment in IP Extension, was coming from Jaipur to New Delhi in December last year when his trolley bags were exchanged. Taking the bag of another passenger, he reached Sharma Ji and deposited it. Then Rakesh Sharma immediately looked up the mobile number of the passenger through the details of the PNR from which the luggage of Nikunj was exchanged. Nikunj says that Rakesh Ji has returned the bags of many people. All this is difficult. But, Rakesh Ji through his dedication and hardwork traces it. Within one day they returned their lost luggage.
On another account Santosh Kumar, a passenger shares his thoughts during his travel from Patna to New Delhi in December last year. He recalls that he was carrying a lot of luggage, and so a bag was left behind on the train. Rakesh Sharma returned his lost luggage within just two hours. Ironically a bag was stolen from him, from the platform, just a year earlier has not been found yet.
“I never thought the railways could take such quick action. A year or so ago, a similar thing happened when my luggage was stolen. But I never found it. This time, I thank Rakesh Sharma, and I am glad the railways have officers like him who are doing such good work”, Santosh Kumar said.