Indian Railways' new move to reduce on-board bed-roll theft
The Indian Railways is always on lookout to enhance on-board facilities for its passengers to make the journey more enjoyable and convenient. However, the increasing cases of theft and vandalism, on part of some unruly passengers, stalls this progress. So, to deal with them, the national transporter is bringing up new rules and norms. Here's more on this.
Railways' new rule to check bedroll theft from trains
Earlier, coach attendants used to collect bedrolls after the passengers had deboarded the train. But now, according to the new Railways rule, these attendants would be collecting the bedrolls from passengers half-an-hour before the arrival time at the destination station. A Railways bed-roll comprises one blanket, 1 pillow, 2 bed sheets, and 1 face towel. The charge is Rs. 25 per bed-roll.
21 lakh bedroll items stolen from AC coaches in 2017-18
The on-rise theft of bedrolls from trains is the cause behind the new rule. During 2017-18, a shocking 21 lakh bedroll-items, including 12,83,415 hand towels, 4,71,077 bed-sheets, 3,14,952 pillow covers, 56,287 pillows, and 46,515 blankets went missing from AC-coaches of trains across the country. Reportedly, these incidents of theft cost the Indian Railways as much as Rs. 14 crore.
Cases of vandalism also not uncommon
And the story doesn't end at bedroll theft. There have been quite a few vandalism cases too. Quite recently, during the Delhi-Agra trial-run of India's first engine-less, Train 18 was pelted with stones by some vandals (what a way to welcome progress!) Earlier, in 2017, the Mumbai-Goa bound Tejas Express witnessed cases of damage to infotainment systems and looting of headphones by passenger on-board.
