Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has become social media's new favourite.
It seems Prabhu has taken a leaf out of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's book. Swaraj has set the bar high as she has consistently helped people who have tweeted to her.
Now, Prabhu through his Twitter handle and the Indian railways Twitter account has taken the meaning of 'helping out' to a new level.
Stuck in a train for hours on Thursday somewhere between Allahabad and Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh, Satyendra Yadav had no idea how to pacify his 18-month-old baby. The baby was crying inconsolably after not getting milk for a long time.
He then tweeted Union railway minister Suresh Prabhu, asking for help.
By the time the train reached Fatehpur station, milk was ready and biscuits for the child.
On Thursday, Yadav tweeted his predicament to Prabhu, "Train kafi late hai. Mere 18-mahine ke bachche ko doodh chahiye (The train is running late. My 18-month-old child needs milk)," he tweeted.
The minister tweeted back, asking for his mobile number and assuring all help.
"As the train was passing through Allahabad division of North Central Railway (NCR), Prabhu spoke to NCR general manager and divisional railway manager of Allahabad division. Though there was no scheduled stoppage at Fatehpur, arrangements were made to halt the train there for about two minutes," said NCR chief public relation officer Bijay Kumar.
Following this, the station master of Fatehpur station provided the family with food when the train arrived there.
The incident comes close on the heels of a group of hungry students aboard the delayed Kumbha Express from Dehradun to Howrah tweeting their plight to Prabhu. The train was diverted for maintenance work and had no pantry car.
At 7 pm, the travellers tweeted Prabhu, telling him the seat details and phone numbers. Within 2 hours, at Varanasi station, railway officials had arranged for concessional food and drinks for the students.
@sureshpprabhu@RailMinIndia sir plz arrange food for school students in train 12370(B-1) bcoz of 7 hours delayed, route diverted,No Pantry
— Amit K Narnoli (@ANarnoli) December 7, 2015
And, soon this happened:
@ANarnoli@RailMinIndia@sureshpprabhu@drmmgs@GM_NRly school children served meal and water at Bsb. pic.twitter.com/uSeeutEpou
— Anil kumar Lahoti (@drmlko25) December 7, 2015
In another incident, Suresh Prabhu helped another lady passenger on a train who reported to the ministry on Twitter that she was in distress. On 26 November, Namrata Mahajan who was travelling on an outbound train in Maharashtra tweet to the Ministry of Railways' twitter handle seeking help when a male passenger was harassing her.
The Central Railway chief PRO, Narendra Patil took notice of the tweet and immediately responded seeking information about the train and she was asked asked to contact the security helpline 182.
Namrata had a reserved ticket on a crowded train, when she approached the boy sitting in her seat to move, he yelled at her and left the compartment, after which the boy's father along with the boy came into the compartment and hurled abuses at her.
"The man was going to slap me, I did not know what to do, I tweeted to the Ministry for help and got a response in a minute," she said. She also said that the (boy's family members) told her, "tumhe bahar phenk denge (we will throw you out)" Namrata had made calls to 139 but since it was an automated response, she had no expectations.
She felt that she could get a quicker response through Twitter. And, she did.
@namratamahajan1 Please your PNR immediately
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) November 26, 2015
@namratamahajan1 We have informed. Somebody will attend to you soon.
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) November 26, 2015
@pra_shri80 @RailMinIndia yes sir exactly I am safe thanks for that immediate help sir.
— namrata mahajan (@namratamahajan1) November 26, 2015
The Railway officials also help people find their lost mobile phones.
@RailMinIndia -@RailMinIndia , sir I have forgot my mobile in the train no-14660, at A2- seat no -31, at Jaipur station, train leftfor Delhi
— Sanjay rathi (@banjarahome) December 11, 2015
@RailMinIndia , after 15 minutes leaving train we tried our phone call, but it was switched off, I am sure please consider with attainder
— Sanjay rathi (@banjarahome) December 11, 2015
@RailMinIndia thank you I got call from railway that they found mobile and need to collect from Delhi office, thanks a lot for the help.
— Sanjay rathi (@banjarahome) December 11, 2015
On 1 December, Pankaj Jain who was travelling on the Yesvantpur-Bikaner train with his father on Sunday requested for a wheelchair by tweeting to the railway ministry and the minstry responded asked for the train's PNR and coach number to make suitable arrangements.
And, this is what happened:
@DRMJodhpurNWR@GMNWRailway@RailMinIndia
Cn d train 16587 to stop at merta road for 10 mins than usual 3 mins tom mng?cn I get wheelchair?
— Pankaj Jain (@pankajjain86) November 28, 2015
@pankajjain86@DRMJodhpurNWR@GMNWRailway@dr_asr@sureshpprabhu Please send PNR or coach number
— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) November 28, 2015
@RailMinIndia in this Cold weather the station master wit staff were waiting for us on platform @DRMJodhpurNWR@GMNWRailway@sureshpprabhu
— Pankaj Jain (@pankajjain86) November 29, 2015
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