Cops stuck with staff shortage, primitive equipment
A team of the Railway Police conducting a search on the Secunderabad Railway station premises (Photo:DC/File)
Hyderabad:While the Telangana government is attempting to upgrade policing to global standards, the Railway police is getting ignored. Crores have been allotted to the Hyderabad and Cyberabad Police for purchasing vehicles and equipments, but the Railway police is still manning the three major railway stations in the city with outdated equipments and overworked men.
Although railway stations are considered most vulnerable to terror strikes, the railway bomb squads do not have modern equipments. Proposals have been sent by the Railway police brass for new vehicles and equipments to tighten security at Nampally, Secunderabad, Kacheguda and other railway stations in the city. However, they are entangled in red tape.
The staff crunch is severe in the railway police as around 40 per cent of the vacancies have not been filled. As a majority of the railway cops have to engage in routine duties, only a few are left for security duty even if there are intelligence alerts on terror attacks. Higher officials in the Railway police feel that the force is given lesser importance compared to the general police, although railway stations are easy targets.
“A major chunk of the force would be busy in routine duties like guarding, investigation, and mortuary duties. When an emergency arises it becomes unmanageable,” a railway police official said.
Earlier, in undivided AP, despite orders from police headquarters to SPs to transfer law and order cops to the Railway Police, nothing was done.
“The main reason told by the SPs for not transferring the men was that the cops are not ‘willing’ to go to the railway police,” said a senior official from the Railway police.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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