Railway, bus stations are soft targets

Railway, bus stations are soft targets

Anil Kumar Sastry and M.T. Shiva Kumar

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

Tough to handle: Multiple entry points and a huge floating population at the City Railway Station pose a challenge to security agencies.

BANGALORE: Nearly 15 lakh people visit this area daily and over 12 lakh take either a bus or a train to reach their destination or to enter the city. This is Majestic, the major travel hub of Bangalore that holds within its confines the City Railway Station and the Kempegowda Bus Station of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC).

This enormous section population is a soft target for a terror strike. This is despite the fact that the railways, the KSRTC and the BMTC have taken several measures and deployed security mechanism within their respective stations. Multiple entry points to the stations and a huge floating population pose a challenge to security agencies to offer foolproof security.
City station

The City Railway Station, which handles nearly two lakh passengers and a hundred pairs of passenger trains, has four recognised entry points where armed security personnel with metal detectors are deployed. However, there are nearly 20 unauthorised entry points to this station which are susceptible to entry of terror elements as they remain unguarded round-the-clock. These unauthorised points are located on either side of the station, including Magadi Road, Okalipuram, Binny Mill and other places. The situation is no different at Yeshwanthpur that has grown to be the second largest railway terminal for the City and Cantonment Railway Station.

The scene inside the terminals depicts a poor picture on security aspects. There are closed circuit television cameras and personnel monitoring movement of people sitting in the control room. Still, if something happens on the platforms or the foot-overbridges or the subway, absence of security personnel on these locations might prove costly for passengers.
Short-staffed

Multiple agencies — the Railway Protection Force (RPF), Railway Protection Special Force (RPSF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) — look after safety of passengers and security of railway property. However, all these forces are short-staffed that come in the way of assuring complete security to passengers.

The GRP, for which the last recruitment was done in 1997, has a vacancy of nearly 50 posts in the sanctioned 910 posts even as the present day situation requires at least 2,000 personnel. Similarly RPF too is short-staffed and the force is managing within the available personnel.
Bus station

The other side of the railway station, which houses KBS registers over 2,500 departures and two lakh passengers of KSRTC and 10,000 departures and six lakh passengers of BMTC a day. Unlike the City Railway Station or KSRTC’s terminal, BMTC’s terminal with four rings and 26 platforms has multiple entry points and it is humanly impossible to guard each and every entry point.

The subway connecting KBS and the City Railway Station and the foot-overbridge at KBS connecting BMTC’s platforms and KSRTC’s terminal are highly vulnerable for any terror attack as they remain unguarded.

BMTC’s Shivajinagar terminal, the second major city bus terminal, registers 625 departures and nearly 2.75 lakh passengers a day. Completely open on one side, this terminal too could allow free access to extremist elements.