By IANS,
New Delhi : A parliamentary panel has voiced serious concern over the abysmal lack of safety and security for train passengers and asked the Indian Railways to introspect as it has become a soft target of terrorists and Maoists.
“It goes without saying that the Indian Railways is the lifeline of the nation. But when the the lives of its passengers become a casualty in wake of accidents or attacks and sabotage by terrorists and Maoists, it’s a cause of worry, requiring serious introspection,” said a report by the lawmakers’ committee, tabled Friday in the Lok Sabha.
“The issue of safety and security of railway passengers continues to be a crucial concerns which needs urgent coordinated actions,” said the panel, headed by Dravida Munnethra Kazhagam (DMK) leader T.R. Baalu.
The committee expressed concern over the railways’ inability even to rush medical help to passengers after an accident or a terror attack.
The committee detected gaping holes in the railways’ security and safety apparatus that included ill-trained security personnel and lack of weapons and other security gadgets at railway stations.
The panel referred to the railways declaring 202 stations as sensitive on the basis of a high-level committee comprising officers from the National Security Guards (NSG), Delhi Police, Central Industrial Security Force, Railway Protection Force and the ministries of railways and home affairs.
The railways have become a soft target for acts of terror and sabotage as evident from the July 2006 bombing of Mumbai’s suburban railways network, the February 2007 blast in Samjhota Express, the indiscriminate firing at Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminal in 2008 in Mumbai by Pakistani terrorists and the May 28 sabotage by Maoists that led to the derailment of the Gyaneshwari Express in West Bengal, which left 148 dead.
The lawmakers noted that the Integrated Security System as recommended by the ministerial security committee was not in place.
After an on-the-spot inspection, they were dismayed to find the railways’ failure in installing the system properly and effectively at various stations.
“Except for an odd baggage scanner and ill-fitted door frame metal detectors and the presence of a handful of RPF personnel in the stations, the committee did not find any noticeable change in the security environment of the stations,” the report said.
It added that even where the metal detectors or the baggage scanner were installed there were no properly trained security personnel to handle them. At one particular station, the panel found that the person monitoring the baggage scanner was unable to detect a pistol.