Hyderabad: The three major railway stations in Hyderabad and other important stations like Kazipet and Warangal in Telangana are quite porous due to the illegal entry points and broken fences and walls around the stations. Miscreants can easily avoid security officials and door-frame metal detectors at the main entrances, and get into the stations through these unmanned areas.
The MMTS railway stations in the city with inadequate security can also be misused by the miscreants to get to other major stations.
The insufficient number of railway police personnel also makes the railway security system weak. In Telangana (Secunderabad Railway police division), the railway police only has one bomb detection-disposal team for all the major railway stations.
“In Secunderabad, Nampally, and Kacheguda, apart from the main entrances, there are many small illegal entry points. Many fences and walls meant to prevent people from entering railway tracks near the stations, are destroyed and passengers use those ways to get to the platforms,” said a Railway police official, adding that anybody with explosives can enter the platforms without being noticed by the security.
Secunderabad Railway division SP Chandrasekhar Reddy said that the police has requested South Central Railway to close all illegal entry points and repair the fences.
“We have identified many areas that make railway stations porous and deployed men there. Requests have also been sent to railway authorities to mend the broken fences and walls,” he said.
Nearly 2.5 lakh passengers use Hyderabad’s three major railway stations every day. The railway police, due to severe staff crunch, cannot frisk all the passengers. Checking has been intensified following the Chennai train bomb blast. For every 10 passengers frisked by police, hundred others pass by without being checked. Halted trains and passengers are also being checked.
