Nearly 600 die in 15 months while travelling in rlys: RTI

Times of India: Nagpur: Saturday, June 01, 2019.

The Nagpur branch of Government Railway Police (GRP), popularly referred as Lohmarg Police, witnessed nearly 600 deaths in 15 months from January last year. It included those killed while crossing railway lines, falling from the train and even hitting poles while travelling, an RTI reply has informed.

Despite massive awareness drives being undertaken by the government and railway authorities for the commuters regarding risks involved in travelling, most of them neglect their safety that led to the accidents.

While replying to the queries of RTI activist Abhay Kolarkar, public relations officer (PIO) at railway superintendent’s office at Ajni, MG Inamdar, informed that as many as 146 died after falling from the train while three were killed after they hit the pole in running train. About 94 passengers died after receiving electric shock while 23 committed suicides inside the trains or at platforms. Highest number of deaths at 221 are due to the natural causes and 28 died due to felling in the gap between platform and train, while boarding or de-boarding.

In his RTI application, Kolarkar had asked information on various counts, including criminal cases registered from January 1 last year to March 31 this year. Inamdar replied that about 4,279 such cases were booked in the said period. Of them, 3,482 were registered from January to December 2018 and 797 from January to March 31 this year. From January to December 2018, about 399 cases are solved while 3,309 are disposed of. From January to March this year, about 108 cases are solved and 97 are disposed. However, 873 cases are still pending with the GRP.

The value of material seized by GRP was over 7.72 crore in the 15 months.

The city based GRP office has a vast jurisdiction from Gondia to Nandurbar and is responsible for looking after all crimes taking place in the railways property. It included theft, burglary, dacoity and even crimes against women.

People often confused the GRP and Railway Protection Force (RPF), but there is big difference between two outfits. Both are having different functions and operates under different governments. While GRP is under Maharashtra government, RPF is directly controlled by the Union Railway Ministry.