An octogenarian, Gurcharan Singh Guron, was in a rude shock when he attempted to alight the Amritsar Shatabdi at Chandigarh. He had lost his favourite companion of years Rs walking stick' in the train and it was unmanageable for him for a day until he got the pleasant surprise that it was traced and delivered at his residence the very next day.
Like Gurcharan, Meena Patel too had lost her ornaments and cash amount in Kashi Vishwanath Express but 'found' through similar mechanism the way passenger SR Gupta of Ludhiana got his imported jacket and unbelievable Rs 4 lakh cash bag back which he had left in a Jammu Tawi-bound train from New Delhi. Last week, a resident of Varanasi got his travel ticket, besides $ 2,100, RMB 2200, some Indian currency, 10 debit cards and a passport.
Minal Shah, who had come from Kenya and was travelling from New Delhi to Amritsar, lost her I Pad in the Shatabdi and was surprised when she received a call from New Delhi Railway Station that it was found. Talking over phone from Kenya, Minal said she couldn't believe her I Pad was traced and appreciated the efforts of railways.
From delivering information and objects like laptops, jewellery, costly mobile phones to cheap pens and ornaments, New Delhi Railway Station Manager (SM) Rakesh Sharma slogs into the track for the "real" owner and hand them their objects with pride protecting the image of Indian Railways and the country together. Laptops and I phones have been delivered at Australia, London and United States too by Rakesh's efforts.
In his this effort, he has two effective and trustworthy tool — the pantry car waiters/attendants and the use of technology. As SM of New Delhi railway station Rakesh has earned a name for himself as he has successfully tracked down more than 135 people including foreigners on social media mostly on Facebook and returned their belongings that passengers had misplaced or mistakenly left either inside the train or on the platform premises.
Most of the passengers usually forget their valuables inside the train and even on platform. These valuable items are submitted to station master office by catering staff or any railway staff who trace it while cleaning the coach.
Adopting an innovative way to track down passengers and return their valuables, Rakesh first try to get information about passengers by PNR details, most of the times the phone numbers written in the passenger's details are either switched off or not in service, making it difficult to track.
In an interesting case, one Neeraj Kumar was tracked through a photo in his luggage that had address and number of the studio at back, while some passengers have been tracked through their carry bags identifications or names of the shops.
