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Ludhiana | Railway security struggling to deal with illegal entry, exit points
Miscreants board the trains or attack the passengers in the outer areas and elope through these illegal entry, exit passages dodging the Ludhiana railway police
While the Punjab intelligence wing has asked the law enforcement agencies in the state to beef up security following two threatening letters received last month from a commander of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad, the railway security agencies at the Ludhiana station are a bundle of nerves over the vulnerable and illegal entry and exit points.
Notably, the notorious elements operational at the station here have made and marked illegal entry points, giving them clear passage towards the outer areas of the station through which they enter inside the station, walking on the tracks.
Miscreants board the trains or attack the passengers in the outer areas and elope through these illegal passages dodging the railway police.
During a reality check, HT team found important documents, including pan cards, driving license, aadhaar cards of people, along with an identity card of a border security force staff Shiv Kumar Tomar of 16 BN BSF, Paloura Camp, Jammu, abandoned on the tracks in the outer area of the railway station.
These identity cards were found on the tracks under the Jagraon Bridge and according to the security officials here, the miscreants must have looted the passengers and escaped from the unwalled area leading them to the main road near the said bridge.
“These notorious elements loot and rob the passengers and dump their documents on the tracks after taking the money. We at times become helpless due to less force available for patrolling as there is a huge area to cover,” a railway security official said.
The officer further blamed the passengers of trying to step down from the train in the outer areas to save time to reach home, putting their security at risk.
During the visit at the tracks located near Gurudwara Dukh Niwaran Sahib, Ludhiana, many illegal vendors along with eunuchs were seen boarding the trains from these illegal entry and exit points.
As captured by the HT team in a video, while a passenger train came out of the station in a slow speed, two eunuchs, who were seemingly aware of the train timings, waited for around ten minutes near the aforesaid holy shrine, boarded the train while it was yet to gear up speed and started begging on the train.
“We have requested our seniors to get the boundary walls constructed around the area where the trains slow down. The DGP, railways, also discussed the same with the railway police force (RPF) DGP in a recent meeting held in New Delhi,”an officer said.
However, GRP DSP Balram Rana said both GRP and RPF teams regularly patrol the tracks even at the outer areas of the station, and thus, proper vigil is maintained at the station.
