Hyderabad: While the amount of property lost by the passengers at railway stations in Telangana saw a major jump, with valuation of the lost property assessed at Rs 1.84 crore in 2016 and Rs 4.61 crore in 2017, the same was cut down to half in 2018 as the value of the lost property came down to Rs 2.35 crore.
The Railway Police officials stated this was thanks to effective policing coupled with the usage of technology for the purpose. In 2018, a total of 651 cases were reported out of which 287 were resolved and 254 offenders were arrested.
The Government Railway Police, along with the Railway Protection Force and railway authorities have been taking several steps to increase awareness among passengers so that they are more alert and property offences are restricted, said the superintendent of police, railway police district Secunderabad, G. Ashok Kumar.
“Bell hailers (megaphones) are used for making public announcements on the platforms and also in the trains. Additionally, frisking and checking of passengers and their luggage, monitoring the activities through CCTV cameras installed on the platforms and checking done through DFMD (Door Frame Metal Detector), use of the dog squad by the GRP and RPF officials, are some of the other measures being undertaken,” said the official.
Speaking about the majors arrests in 2018, officials said that a gang of six from Haryana was arrested, from whom property worth Rs 23,47,480 was recovered, a gang of eight from Warangal was arrested for dacoity from whom property worth Rs 12,15,300 was recovered and on December 24, a gang of four women from Karnataka were arrested for their involvement in six property offences, wherein they would steal from passengers waiting for trains by diverting their attention. Officials recovered 44 tolas of gold worth Rs 14.50 lakh from their possession.
“We have distributed 22 public service announcement systems to educate the passengers and encourage them to use the GRP helpline number, 1512 or 9440700040 to prevent the offences”, said Secunderabad Railway Police Inspector, K. Adi Reddy.
