Non-allotment of seats for Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel serving in the mobile police stations on board three express trains has made it difficult to run the units effectively, the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Railways, J. Bhaskaran said on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters after presiding over a security coordination meeting with Railway Protection Force and railway staff here, Mr. Bhaskaran said the mobile police stations functioned in Tirunelveli, Rameswaram, and Coimbatore-Chennai Central expresses.
Headed by a Sub-Inspector, the mobile railway police stations functioning on board the three trains had the same powers as that of the regular ones.
Six seats used to be allotted to the GRP personnel serving in the mobile police stations on board the three trains in one of the reserved sleeper class coaches earlier, he said.
However, seats were not being allotted to the personnel over the past few years forcing the GRP to depute only two constables in the mobile units, the DIG said. Non-allotment of seats had made it difficult for the GRP to run the mobile units effectively, he added.
Further, there was no place for the GRP personnel to keep the station records in the mobile police units as well as to deposit their weapons, he said.
The GRP had written to the railway administration on many an occasion regarding this issue, he said.
He said the Railway Police had booked 41 cases of assault on TTEs from 2013 till date in the GRP Tiruchi district limits.
During the meeting, the issue of providing protection to the TTEs while checking tickets had come up, he said.
The DIG said the Railway Police had been extending assistance to the TTEs in Chennai against ticketless travellers.
The mobile police stations used to be allotted six seats in one sleeper compartment
This facility has been withdrawn hampering the functioning of the police station
