A mockery of security at rly station

A mockery of security at rly station
Deccan Herald

Just four days after the Mumbai serial blasts, all that this station offers in terms of security are the dog squads’ quick checks in the trains, the CCTV cameras and the stray constable.

The Intelligence Bureau lists the Bangalore City among potential terror targets. The City’s perpetually crammed railway station. How do you get in? Just walk in.

The City Railway Station continues to sport the familiar rush — complete with persistent taxi drivers, queue-jumpers and crowds. However, just four days after the Mumbai serial blasts, all that this station offers in terms of security are the dog squads’ quick checks in the trains, the CCTV cameras and the stray constable.

On Saturday this reporter, along with a photographer, walked into the station at around 2.45 pm. Barring once — when a constable spotted the camera and enquired — there was no security interception all through the two-hour survey of the premises.

2.45 pm: Two RPF constables are posted at the entrance, but are clearly outnumbered by the teeming passengers and visitors. “No metal detector checks here, our dog squads check all the trains,” says one of them.

3.00 pm: With the crowd, on Platform no 1. Passengers drag in piles of unchecked baggage, and ease down on them. No cops in sight.

3.10 pm: On the foot overbridge. Scores of people idle around. Some of them stop by and catch an elevated view of the sudden rains. The bridge is closed near Platform no 5 for maintenance. Police, still missing.

3.30 pm: On Platform no 5, walkers cross the distance by hopping in and out of near-empty, stationed trains. Still, no cops around.

3.45 pm: Train no 1014 — Kurla Express from Coimbatore — arrives on Platform no 1. Two dog squad constables, along with two agile sniffers brave the rains and hop in, for a quick check. Ten minutes later, they are out of the station.

4.20 pm: Amused by our free-wheeling photo shoot, a constable at the entrance asks, “Which press?” People continue to walk into the station, unchecked. Many of them, without a platform ticket.

“Fool-proof security impossible”

“It’s impossible to check all those who walk in and out of the station. We have the bomb squads check the trains and have around 24 CCTV cameras in various locations in the station,” says Railways SP Sreenivasan.

He points out that three agencies — Railway Police, Railway Protection Force and the local police — are in charge of the security, besides three platoons of KSRP for Yeshwanthpur, Cantonment and City stations. “We don’t have metal detector checks at the entry point, but we are closely following suspect movements within the station. The beefed-up security (the dog squads) will continue for at least another week,” he says. However, a top police official formerly attached to the Railways says it is “desirable” to have security checks at the station entry itself. “Whenever there is an alert message with regard to terror threats, we should have such arrangements. However, checking all passengers or trains in a City like Bangalore, is extremely tough on the understaffed force,” he says.