Ambala Cantt: With one scanner for three gates, railway station security leaves lot to be desired

Despite being one of the busiest railway stations in the country, the security at Ambala Cantt railway station has been worrisome

Ambala Spread across nearly four sq km with a large rail depot, the Ambala Cantonment railway station, a major junction in northern India has three entry gates for passengers, but only one baggage scanner. To make matters worse, the station does not have even a single frisking point and passengers are free to enter the station unchecked around the clock.

Only the gate near the unreserved ticket counter at Ambala Cantt railway station has a baggage scanner, while passengers enter unchecked from the other gates. (HT Photo)

Despite being one of the busiest railway stations in the country, the security of the station has been worrisome.

The three entry gates include one next to the unreserved ticketing counter — the only one with a baggage scanner manned by two Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel, another at the enquiry counter and the third near the escalators and lift section.

This correspondent visited the station thrice in a week and found that even at gate number 1, passengers were free to enter the station unchecked and without being asked to get their luggage scanned.

Just next to the gate, two illegal entry points near patches of the damaged railing were also found. Several such points on the other side of the station have been carved out to facilitate the residents of the railway colony and beyond.

Passengers at the station have raised questions on the alleged lapses in security, with Ravi, who was at the station to board an Uttar Pradesh-bound train, saying, “The authorities should think about securing the station to avert any untoward situation.”

In October 2011, a team of Delhi and Haryana Police recovered 5.6 kg of RDX, five timers and five detonators hidden in an abandoned car in the parking.

The station and the district have received several threats, most recently by banned terror outfit Sikhs for Justice and another as a letter addressed to the divisional railway manager GM Singh in November last year. However, the police probe has so far found it to be fake.

Speaking about the same, station director BS Gill said, “We have a large depot, a yard and tracks spreading several sq km. We cannot have security like that of an airport here. We have a plan to install a total of 110 CCTVs and 50% of the work is complete. The station is manned by RPF personnel regularly,”

Inspector Javed Khan, station house officer at RPF post, however, said a single baggage scanner for three entry gates was not enough, adding, “This is the reason why I wrote to the railways two weeks ago demanding two more such machines.”