Providing safety, security measures at stations: Railways to Delhi HC

The Indian Railways on Friday told the Delhi High Court that it has put in place safety and security measures like baggage scanners, hand-held metal detectors and CCTV cameras in stations as sought in a PIL.

The court granted the railways time till May 15 to file an affidavit and asked it to indicate the steps taken by it and the future road map with regard to safety and security measures in its stations.

"Whatever they (petitioner) have asked for, we are already providing or are in the process of doing so," the Railways' lawyer told a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar and sought time to file an affidavit containing details of the steps taken.

The bench was hearing the petition by a lawyer, Kush Kalra, seeking safety and security measures like baggage scanners, hand-held metal detectors and CCTV cameras at all railway stations in the country.

Kalra, in his plea, has alleged there is a lack of safety and security measures, including anti-collision devices, at majority of the stations in the country.

He has contended in his petition that he had brought to the attention of the Indian Railways the lack of safety measures at various stations, yet it has not taken any steps to rectify the situation.

The plea has also claimed that railways have in replies to Right to Information (RTI) queries admitted that it has received huge budgetary allocations for providing safety and security measures at all of its stations.

"Despite the availability of resources, the respondent (railways) has failed to implement and take necessary steps towards making railway stations safe and secure through installation of the desired safety and security mechanism," the petition has contended.

Kalra has also claimed that railway stations are soft targets for terror attacks as such incidents have occurred in the past and have led to huge casualties.

"Some safety and security measures are already existing in some railway stations while being completely absent from the others. The respondent cannot adopt a pick and choose method and decide in its own wisdom to identify railway stations for installation of safety and security measures to the exclusion of the others," he has said.

The petition has further said that while the stations and trains now have state-of-the-art amenities and modern facilities, the railways has failed to improve upon its safety and security mechanisms commensurate with the amenities being provided to its passengers.