How Rail Minister Lends A Helping Hand To Passengers In Distress

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants his Cabinet colleagues to be active and responsive on Twitter so as to present a government that is both transparent and accountable and believes in communicating with the people.

While some ministers, like Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, at times do attend to people’s woes on Twitter that results in visible action on the ground, it’s Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu through his presence on twitter and proactive governance who’s changing the rules of the game.

Little surprise then that newspapers these days are awash with stories on how someone’s train journey was made comfortable because Prabhu’s men swung into action after getting that one tweet.

Prabhu’s gargantuan machinery doesn’t stop buzzing even on Sundays -- as Kerala-based Prabhat pleasantly realized, and later recounted to Businessworld. Prabhat’s elderly mother-in-law was travelling to Delhi alone and could not be reached on her cellphone. Prabhat sent out a tweet, tagging Prabhu. During the course of the day, he was told that there was a problem with his mother-in-law’s mobile handset and that she was absolutely fine.

While many ministers are known to employ teams to handle their social media, Prabhu is known to frequently check his Twitter messages himself, mostly on his cellphone. Many of those in distress also tag RailMinIndia, along with Prabhu, so the larger team is alerted. Now that the volume of tweets has increased, a team is continuously at work to assist Prabhu.

On an average, say sources, the Ministry of Railways gets everyday 5,000 tweets. Out of those, around 3,500 are re-tweets. Some 500 tweets pertain to suggestions. On an average, around ten tweets per day are from those in distress during their train journey.

This could be ranging from a woman passenger facing harassment to a couple needing hot milk for their baby. As soon as a cry for help is made on twitter, Prabhu’s men in Delhi swing into action. They connect with the divisions / stations with the required manpower, bringing solace to those in need, and bringing about a much-needed perception shift – in how India should be managed and governed.