By IANS
New Delhi : With the country’s rail network identified as a soft target for terror groups, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and Home Minister Shivraj Patil Saturday discussed measures to set up a mechanism for intelligence sharing and reviewed the overall security system.
It was decided that the railway ministry will nominate state-wise nodal officers to ensure better cooperation between the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Government Railway Police (GRP) of the respective state governments.
“A mechanism for intelligence sharing and dissemination for action among the stakeholders will be set up,” said a statement issued by the home ministry.
During the review meeting it was accepted that there was a need to increase the strength of the RPF on account of the three-fold increase in its charter of responsibilities.
Lalu Prasad emphasised that passenger security would be accorded top priority by the RPF among its charter of duties and adequate funds would be made available for modernization of the force.
National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan has on several occasions warned that mass transport systems like the railways were a vulnerable target for terror groups.
In November 2006, Narayanan had alerted officials in an international seminar on “Growing challenges of terrorism with special reference to the railways” that securing mass transport systems was essential.
The synchronised explosion of seven bombs that ripped through packed commuter trains and stations in Mumbai’s evening rush hour killing 187 was the defining moment of terror in 2006, marking the deadliest attack in the country in more than a decade.
Those who attended Saturday’s meeting included V.N. Mathur, member (traffic), S.K. Vij, member (engineering), M.K. Sinha, director general of RPF, Pradyot Chandra Haldar, director of the Intelligence Bureau, Syed Iftikar Sultan Ahmed, director general of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Mahendra Lal Kumawat, special secretary, (internal security).