The Railway Protection Force (RPF) is attempting to link personal identification cards such as Aadhaar cards, driver’s license, and other forms of identification with online ticketing platforms in order to combat unlawful railway ticket purchases in the country.
Arun Kumar, the Director-General of the Railway Protection Force, announced on June 25 that 14,257 touts have been detained and Rs 28.34 crore worth of tickets recovered from them since 2018.
A tout is someone who buys tickets with the intention of reselling them for a profit.
“Customers will have to attach one of their identity cards like an Aadhaar card or passport in order to log in and buy tickets on online platforms,” Kumar said.
Upgrading The Surveillance Systems
He went on to say that the RPF is striving to upgrade its surveillance systems at railway stations across the country, and that it plans to release a smartphone app shortly, where consumers can make complaints about theft, harassment, and illegal stoppages, among other things.
Indian Railways has developed a composite Rail Safety Mobile App that would allow passengers to report crimes occurring in trains.
Kumar added that RPF officers have been a part of the frontline workers in the fight against COVID-19 and before the outbreak of the second wave of the pandemic in the country around 90 percent of the officers were vaccinated with the first dose of the vaccine.
In the second wave of COVId 3,298 RPF officers were infected by the disease, out of which 22 people died and currently about 150 are admitted to the hospitals. Only 0.045 percent of the jawans who got vaccinated fell ill.
Measures To Improve The Safety Of Women Passengers
According to Kumar, the RPF has also taken steps to increase the safety of female train passengers.
He also stated that the RPF has hired an additional 6,000 female constables, bringing the total number of women in the RPF to 9%.
He said that this has given impetus to the RPF’s Meri Saheli project, in which a woman constable stationed in the train, after identifying the women traveling alone from the reservation chart, contacts them at the seat and gives them her number and assures them of security.
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