The Indian Railways for the first time will deploy private security guards at stations.
Union minister of state for railways R Velu said the Southern Railway was planning to deploy private security at Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) stations along with the Railway Protection Force (RPF) in Chennai.
RPF has decided to hire around 70 private security guards for MRTS stations, which stretches for about 15 km, on a pilot basis. The entire stretch is now guarded by 40 RPF personnel.
Speaking to Business Standard, Praveen C Sinha, deputy chief security commissioner, RPF – Southern Railway, said till now they could take care of the security system by redeploying the existing force, but over the last two years the passenger movement has increased tremendously.
Also “since the Southern Railway is planning to increase the number of stations and kilometres of MRTS, it will be difficult to make do with the existing force,” he said. The private securities personnel would be under RPF and would manage the entry and exit at these stations.
Currently, the Southern Railway has about 4,000 RPF personnel and requires at least 2,000 more.
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According to Sinha, traditionally RPF's job was to guard railways’ property. But they now manage stations, guard passengers in trains and keep a check on trespassers. Every day, the RPFs prosecute around 500 people for petty offences like smoking, and trespassing.
He said the RPF was planning to invest around Rs 5 crore to install CCTVs and in bomb deduction equipment at the stations.