CISF helps Delhi Metro users retrieve lost valuables

On an average, 60 to 70 unattended items are recovered at the Delhi Metro stations in a month and 90 <g data-gr-id="29">per cent</g> of them are returned to their owners.

Officers of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) said that the passengers mostly forgot their valuables on the Yellow Line-Jahangirpuri-Gurgaon-while Kashmere Gate and Rajiv Chowk are the stations from where most of the lost items are recovered. Currently, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has six lines-Red, Blue, Yellow, Violet, Green and Airport Express. CISF sources said that items left behind are bags with cash, jewellery, foreign currency, cheques or drafts and laptops, while in some cases passengers forgot pouches, cameras, watches, mobiles, tablets, i-Pods and carry bags. 

“Most items are left behind at the X-Ray baggage scanning machines and in the other areas in the Metro premises,” said a source. The CISF has recovered Rs 807,212 in cash, cheques for Rs 192,200, foreign currency of Rs 12,506, 12 gold ornaments, 64 laptops, 21 cameras, 192 watches, seven tablets and two iPods between January 1 and July 30. The paramilitary force had recovered Rs 34,65,494 in cash in 2014, Rs 28,29,047 in 2013 and Rs 21,12,310 in 2012.

“Our personnel not only guarantee a safe journey for Metro passengers but also ensure the retrieval of their forgotten valuables in the station premises,” a CISF officer, on condition of anonymity, said. 

According to the officer, the 140 Metro stations are manned by about 5,000 armed CISF troopers. He said that the items recovered at Metro stations by CISF personnel are handed over to the officers of Station Control Room (SCR).

“After finding any object, we first check on the threat level. Then the forgotten item is opened in the presence of station controller who takes the article in his control,” the officer said. A Metro official said that the forgotten item is kept in the SCR’s custody for a day and is then deposited with DMRC’s ‘Lost and Found’ branch at Kashmere Gate.

“Passengers can contact the station controller and get back their goods after showing their identity cards and explaining the details of their lost article,” the Metro official said. He, however, conceded that lost goods found by people other than CISF personnel might not be retrieved.