Prime Minister Narendra Modi led Bharatiya Janata Party government, ever since it came into power, has been criticized as ‘twitter ministers’ for being pro active on social media platforms. Blames and charges levied against the central government in India changed into praises as soon as the central ministers started using Twitter and Facebook to reach out to the common people and help them in times of distress. Crores of Indians use Indian Railways on a daily basis, their woes range from dirty compartments to security and health issues while travelling. It is therefore a boon that the Railways Minister is at the service of the travellers 24*7 on Twitter. A recent event which took place in Uttar Pradesh prove that the central government indeed is pro active in helping out common people. A Twitter user namely, Adarsh Shrivastava, had tweeted from the train that there were 25 juvenile girls travelling in his train’s compartment. He tagged Piyush Goyal’s official handle, as well as that of the PMO and UP CM Yogi Adityanath. The aware citizen had followed this tweet with another one elaborating that these girls were likely the subject of human trafficking and had also mentioned the stops of the train.
I am traveling in Avadh express(19040). in s5. in my coach their are 25 girls all are juvenile some of them are crying and all feeling unsecure.@RailMinIndia @PiyushGoyal @PMOIndia @PiyushGoyalOffc @narendramodi @manojsinhabjp @yogi
— Adarsh Shrivastava (@AdarshS74227065) July 5, 2018
The action by Railway Ministry working in co-ordination with the Uttar Pradesh Police was praiseworthy to say the least. All 25 underage girls were rescued from the hands of child traffickers. The Railway Police Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) worked in co-ordination to arrest the two male child traffickers aged 22 and 55 years. The girls were from West Champaran in Bihar and were being taken to Idgah by the two accused. The tweet by the social media savvy traveller probably saved the lives of 25 girls and their families. The government too deserves special mention for taking swift action and arresting the child traffickers and safely rescuing the juvenile girls in under an hour after the tweet was posted.
This is not the first time that a tweet has saved life or lives. Many travellers who face medical emergencies during train journeys have been helped in the past. Security of women passengers travelling alone has increased exponentially and so has other facilities in the railways. The Ministry of External Affairs too has been proactive in helping foreign travellers whenever and wherever they might be stuck in foreign destinations. The power of social media has been fully utilised under the rule of BJP to ensure facilities and security is provided to the fullest to the people of the country. Pro-active users like Adarsh Shrivastava deserve an award for using social media platforms in the right way and securing the lives of fellow countrymen from the clutches of child traffickers and people with evil intentions. Railway security forces and Minister Piyush Goyal too deserve special applause for taking prompt action and being ever ready to help the passengers. These are indeed the ‘acche din’ for Indian Railways and crores of travellers who use this method of transportation.
