By IANS
Patna : The safety of millions of passengers in trains passing through Bihar is hanging in the balance even as Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar are busy playing the blame game.
Several incidents of banditry on running trains have been reported from Bihar in the last few weeks. But neither railway officials nor state police are ready to walk the extra mile to check such crimes.
“Passenger safety and security has been left to god’s mercy as the railways and the state government are engaged in a blame game,” a senior police official said on condition of anonymity.
Around 150 trains pass through Bihar every day.
The latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau says: “The Patna rail police jurisdiction alone accounts for 23 percent of all crimes on wheels committed throughout the country.”
The Patna rail police jurisdiction falls between Mughalsarai in Uttar Pradesh and the Mokama route in Bihar.
The report says Bihar and neighbouring Uttar Pradesh account for 51 percent of robberies on wheels. According to the report, the two states top the list of train robberies followed by Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and West Bengal.
In Bihar, most crimes take place in the Patna-Gaya, Mughalsarai-Jhajha, Gaya-Mughalsarai, Barauni-Samastipur and Hajipur-Gorakhpur sections of East Central Railway.
“Crimes on trains passing through Bihar is not a new phenomenon but the recent increase is alarming,” admitted a senior railway official.
Around 2,700 crimes were reported from all over the country in the first three months of 2006, an increase of over 200 percent.
Official figures show that at least two murders or attempts-to- murder take place daily in trains or railway premises in the country.
Banned Maoist outfits are engaged in crimes on wheels. Even the involvement of Government Railway Police (GRP) in such crimes is reported regularly.
Lalu Prasad has repeatedly blamed the GRP of the Bihar government for failing to provide safety and security to passengers.
On the other hand Nitish Kumar puts the blame on Lalu Prasad. “Railways is responsible for the rise in crime on trains, not the state government,” Nitish Kumar said early this week.
Every train is supposed to have personnel of the Railway Protection Force, which falls under the central government.