Delhi Railway police made a bizarre revelation about its helpline number and said that the majority of calls they receive are related to requests for pizza delivery, mobile recharges, railway jobs and other such trivial matters. The 1512 helpline, set up for railway passengers to register complaints and report incidents of crime at railway stations, receives requests to get eatables such as pizzas and burgers. The calls also include people enquiring for railway jobs and vacancies. The Delhi Railway Police Control Room receives 200 phone calls on an average every day and 80% of the calls are related to such requests, police said on Sunday.

Read: Piyush Goyal: Fitness Centres Should Be Opened On Railway Premises

'Get pizza delivered'

The railway police in Delhi is clearly having a tough time with such requests. “Get my phone recharged, get pizza delivered, I want two burgers, tea, juices, cold water are some of the demands the passengers make,” a senior police officer said. The 1512 helpline number, launched in 2015, also receives calls regarding train ticket bookings and payment of electricity bills. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Railways) Dinesh Kumar Gupta said that most of the time the helpline number is treated as railway enquiry instead of police assistance.

Read: Charbagh Railway Station In Lucknow Witnesses A Ban On Bananas

Creating awareness

The lack of awareness about the purpose of the helpline leads to such unnecessary requests, said the police. However, the Delhi Railway Police has started creating awareness among travellers through books and pamphlets. The staff deployed at the railway police control room attend every call to ensure assistance in case of any emergency and answer politely to unnecessary calls. “We deal with such calls politely. We tell them it's not a hotel service that you place an order and get food delivered. We don’t provide such facilities,” said a senior police official.

Read: Passengers At 400 Railway Stations To Soon Be Served Tea In Kulhads

Backlash from callers

However, some people express anguish and even abuse the staff. “We also receive such junk calls from Gurugram and Ghaziabad,” said the official. “If the call is worthy and genuine, we direct the call to the control rooms of the nearest railway police station concerned or police teams on-board the trains for action on complaints,” he added. The staff try to explain to them that the purpose of the helpline is to seek police assistance in case they want to report any theft, quarrel, fight, crime or difficulty.

(With PTI Inputs)

Read: Amazon Partners With Indian Railways For Self Pick-up Of Parcels