More Friendship Day & Good Morning Messages Than Complaints: Railways Complaint Helpline

Last week on July 31, the western railway introduced WhatsApp helpline numbers as part of their cleanness drive. The numbers were introduced to file any complaints regarding lack of cleanliness at the Western and Central railway stations. However, the officials have complained that the WhatsApp number has not only been overburdened with forwarded messages but also received Friendship Day wishes on Sunday.

According to the Indian Express, in the one week of its introduction, the helpline number has only received 25 complaints about unclean railway stations on Central Railway (CR) and Western Railways (WR). Instead, the helpline number has received many WhatsApp forwards.

“We have received text messages wishing us good morning, good evening and rest. Messages of deities with devotional messages have been forwarded, and we have also received amusing Hindi poems,” an official said.

On receiving such messages, the Railway officials said that they have asked the staff to delete the unnecessary messages. “The most repeated messages include ‘sending a particular forward message to 15 people to ensure good luck in one’s life,” said the officer. The officer further said that these messages are a “nuisance and waste of their time”.

The helpline

The two separate numbers that have been introduced, for both Western Railway and Central Railway, are 90044 99773 for WR and the passengers can use 9987645307 for the CR line.

A trained staff is deployed to go through such complaints, said WR officials to the Financial Times. The officials have further claimed that if they receive any complaints regarding the dirty station or such they will take immediate action on the matter.

“Efforts will be made to attend to the area concerned immediately and address the grievance. This will be an additional monitoring mechanism in addition to inspections already being carried out by station masters and other officers,” said the officials.

The Railway has launched WhatsApp helpline number in five other divisions as well. The different helpline numbers are as follows, Vadodara (9724091426), Ahmedabad (9724093981), Bhavnagar (9724097967), Rajkot (9724094983) and Ratlam (9752492970).

Till now, out of the 25 complains, the Western Railway has received 23 complains of unclean stations. Whereas the Central railway has received two such complains. The officials said that these complaints have been sent to the control department, which forwards it to the staff concerned, including the respective station master, whose station has been reported to be unclean.

“While there is no deadline to redress the complaint, we try to do so the same day,” an official said.

The Logical Indian take

Recently the Wall Street Journal reported that a number of Indian Internet newbies are filling the web space with millions of good morning post which is creating troubles for many others. The gravity of the issue can be better understood by the complaints of the Western Railway department who says that these are “nuisance messages” on the helpline which is introduced to help the public sector. We would urge the people to not forward these kinds of messages on a government portal as it creates further menace for the authorities. We should keep in mind that these helplines are for the public and would lead to better public services. Hence, it is better to keep things professional and not flood them with useless messages.

Also read: Blankets Used By AC Travellers To Be Washed Twice A Month Instead Of Once In Two Months: Railways