Bhubaneswar: Odisha Police officials along with the Railway Protection Force (RPF) authorities Tuesday deliberated on several important issues related to security at the railway stations in the state during the second quarterly meeting of State Level Security Committee (SLSC) held at the camp office of Director General of Police (DGP) here.
DGP BK Sharma, Additional Director General (ADG) of Government Railway Police (GRP) Pranabindu Acharya, State Intelligence Bureau (SIB) chief RK Sharma along with other senior officers participated in the meeting.
Special focus was given on the issues like safety of passengers from looters, human trafficking, illegal transportation of drugs, fire safety at the platforms, and sabotage of railway tracks in the Naxal-infested areas during the meeting.
Speaking to media persons, Sharma said round-the-clock vigil will be maintained on the railway tracks in the Maoist-affected areas. Special orientation training for both RPF and GRP personnel was proposed in the meeting in order to deal with Maoist activities.
Acharya informed the media that GRP with the help of RPF will enhance security arrangements at six major railway stations in the state in the initial phase under the composite security scheme of the Centre.
It was also decided at the meeting that a team comprising officials from both GRP and RPF will intensify checking in the trains and platforms to stop illegal transportation of drugs. Teams of RPF and GRP will initiate action against the criminals who loot passengers by offering spiked food items. The railway authorities have also been advised by DGP BK Sharma to obtain fire safety certificates under the Odisha Fire Prevention and Safety Rules-2017 from the state Fire Services Department.
Odisha Police and RPF agreed to continue the drive against unregistered vendors at the platforms and trains in future too. The GRP personnel will now verify the antecedents of the labourers working under the private railway contractors in order to prevent criminal incidents at the railway stations. RPF officials have been asked by the state police to supply the list of such contractors to the GRP.
This apart, special attention will be given to the slum areas around the Railway stations to thwart any illegal activities. Similarly, the Cuttack and Rourkela GRP have prepared a database of photographs of criminals, which will be uploaded in CCTNS and shared with RPF sleuths.
The RPF personnel were requested to install more number of CCTVs, baggage scanners at various railway stations. The RPF was also requested to arrange adequate lighting systems at the railway platforms.