Western Railway

crook central

suburban junctions

footfall

paucity

Phatka gang attacks

With Bandra and Borivali close behind, the suburban railway station has already recorded 1,825 cases this year.If you are at Andheri, refrain from keeping your wallet in your back pocket; in Bandra, clutch your mobile phone extra tight; at Borivali, keep a hawk’s eye on your belongings. Because if you don’t, then chances of you being robbed are exponentially high.According to data compiled by the, Andheri has emerged to be thewith a whopping 1,825 cases of theft registered by passengers in just six months this year. Giving it tough competition are Bandra and Borivali with 1,461and 1,429 cases respectively.Combined, the threemake up almost 60 per cent of the total 8,212 cases reported on the entire stretch of WR’s suburban network in 2018. Officials say, about 90 per cent of the cases are related to mobile phone thefts.One of the busiest stations on WR, Andheri witnesses a daily passenger traffic of over six lakhs.Explaining the upsurge, an official from Andheri RPF said that most of the thefts were reported on platform no 6, 7, 8 and 9. “Thieves take advantage of the rush and the fact that the passengers are tired after a hard day at work and their guard is considerably down.”Apart from thein the number of CCTV cameras is another factor. Of the 161 cameras required, Andheri only has 42.Notorious for, Bandra landed in the list because Andheri passengers mostly realised they had been robbed only after they were in the train. “They then alight at Bandra and register the cases here,” said another official.The figures, however, have seen a slight dip as compared to last year when 9,825 cases were recorded during the same period. Officials credit this to extensive operations and awareness drives.Anup Shukla, Senior Divisional Commissioner for RPF on WR said, “We are also identifying worst-affected spots and deploying teams there.”