From now on, the Government Railway Police (GRP) and the Railway Protection Force (RPF) will investigate all thefts and crimes that take place on railway premises. The decision was taken recently at a joint meeting of senior GRP and RPF officials and inspectors.
Presently, there are nearly 2,100 RPF staff in Central Railway and nearly 1,200 in Western Railway. Similarly, there are 3,500 GRP staff in the Mumbai division.
Senior GRP officials said the issue had been under discussion for a while with the Railway Ministry and the Railway Board. An official said, “RPF and GRP are both facing a shortage of staff. Both forces have staff deployed at the same location. By joining hands we can better utilise our resources and deploy officers evenly across important locations. This move will resolve issues cropping out due to staff crunch, such as lack of communication hindering the progress of cases.”
Information related to security arrangements will be shared between both the forces and they will have knowledge of the number of staff deployed at various stations and their locations. Sachin Bhalode, Senior Divisional Security Commissioner, Central Railway, said, “The RPF will give the details of our staff deployment to the GRP and vice-versa. This will make our work much easier from now on.”
Following a review of security equipment on railway premises, authorities issued a letter instructing all CCTV cameras to be repaired to ensure security at railway stations. A.K. Gupta, general manager, Western Railway, said, “We are now relocating CCTV cameras to areas that lack adequate surveillance.” Senior staff have been instructed at their respective railway stations a list of the safety equipment they need such as hand-held detectors, door frame metal detectors and CCTV cameras.
An official said that there is a plan to install 161 new CCTV cameras at Andheri station, which is covered now surveilled by 32 cameras. A GRP official said, “Andheri station officials have raised a demand to relocate existing CCTV cameras and to install more cameras to ensure fool-proof security at the station. Andheri is one of the busiest railway stations in the suburban railway section. We have to regularly monitor CCTVs to maintain law and order.”
