PIL for safety, security measures at all railway stations; HC seeks Centre's reply

The Delhi High Court Friday sought the Centre's response on a PIL seeking safety and security measures, like baggage scanners, hand-held metal detectors and CCTV cameras, at all railways stations in the country.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar issued notice to the Ministry of Railways and sought its stand on the plea which has alleged there is a lack of safety and security measures, including anti-collision devices, at majority of the stations in the country.

Kush Kalra, a lawyer, 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 further claims 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 world over in the past and have led to huge casualties, and the only way to avoid them was to beef up the safety and security measures.

"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.

It has sought directions to the railways to put in place safety and security measures, like anti collision devices, alcohol checking devices, emergency telephones, CCTV cameras, hand-held metal detectors and baggage scanners, at all of its stations.