‘Ensuring airport-like security at Howrah, Sealdah will be tough’

KOLKATA: Last week, RPF DG Arun Kumar had announced that a scheme was being discussed to ensure enhanced security at major railway stations across the country. Under this scheme, no passenger would be allowed into a train without passing through security checks. However, profiling of passengers (primarily long-distance ones) and scanning of baggage will be a daunting task, at least at Howrah and Sealdah stations, for the Railway Protection Force (RPF).

“We wanted this for a long time.At the moment, there is no process to check who are boarding the longdistance trains. Over the years, we have realized that many criminals board longdistance trains with contraband. Moreover, any lacunae in security could result in terrorists boarding trains with guns and explosives and holding passengers hostage,” a senior RPF officer in Kolkata said.
Howrah and Sealdah stations are open at both ends. Official entry is allowed at one end only. However, many use the other end in the railway yard as well. The Kolkata (Chitpur) station is slightly better secured as it is the originating and terminating points of two trains between India and Bangladesh.
“Howrah and Sealdah stations are a mess. As there is severe congestion of routes, platforms can’t be designated as suburban or longdistance ones. Segregation of passengers is required,” another officer said.
A few years ago, an effort was made to segregate passengers boarding the Rajdhani Express from Howrah by cordoning off the platform and installing metal detectors. Sniffer dogs were also deployed to check baggages at the platform. This didn’t help much as there was no system of checking the tickets of people walking in and out freely.