Passenger security to be raised

RAILWAY BUDGET

The death of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vapayee's grandnephew, Manish Mishra, in a brawl that reportedly broke out in a train on January 26, found reverberations in Railway Minister Nitish Kumar's brief 24-minute interim Budget speech.

Kumar announced that trains plying in high traffic areas would be escorted by Railway Protection Force personnel to beef up passenger safety from July 1 this year.

To provide better security to passengers and passenger areas, certain amendments have been carried out in the Railways Act and the Railway Protection Force Act in the current session of Parliament.

With these amendments, the Railway Protection Force has been entrusted with additional responsibilities to inquire and launch prosecution in case of certain minor offences under the Railways Act.

The move will enable the Government Railway Police to focus on the offences that are more serious in nature. A high level co-ordination meeting of home secretaries, director generals of police, GRP chiefs of various states was held by the railway ministry on January 15.

The details regarding the implementation of the amendments and methods for more co-ordinated security measures were discussed during the meeting.

The ministry has decided to institutionalise such security related co-ordinations with the states by calling for a meeting on January 15 every year.