1,100 fish-plates stolen from RRTS site in Ghaziabad, FIR filed

The police registered a first information report on March 22 at Link Road police station based on a complaint filed by a contractor firm related to the project

Approximately 1,100 fish plates, which hold rails together and allow trains to move smoothly, were stolen from the site of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project between Sahibabad and Vaishali in Ghaziabad, said police offices aware of the matter.

A trial run of an RRTS train on Ghaziabad’s 17km section on Thursday. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

The police registered a first information report on March 22 at Link Road police station based on a complaint filed by a contractor firm related to the project.

“The contractor told us that fish plates had gone missing from the RRTS site under the jurisdiction of the Link Road police station. We registered an FIR under Indian Penal Code section 379 (theft) and formed teams to track down the suspects,” said Bhaskar Verma, assistant commissioner of police. (Sahibabad).

The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) is undertaking the 82km RRTS project between Delhi, Ghaziabad, and Meerut at a cost of approximately ₹30,274 crore. The project entails connecting the three cities via high-speed trains that will run on elevated and underground sections.

When contacted, NCRTC officials declined to comment.

According to the FIR, 687 plates were discovered missing during an inspection on March 2 and another 687 were discovered missing during an inspection by officials on March 7. The complaint was made by officials of a private company involved in track laying work.

According to officials with knowledge of the developments, the fish plates used in the RRTS project are made of metal, and the location where they were stolen is an elevated section of the project at a height of at least 10 metres.

This is not the first time that public infrastructure projects have been targeted by thieves or miscreants. Recently, an unidentified suspect damaged the fibre optic cables of the newly installed CCTV system on the Hindon elevated road.

The damage occurred on March 16 over a 9km stretch at 27 locations between Kaushambi and Haj House, a day after the Ghaziabad police department inaugurated a control room to monitor the 45 CCTV cameras on the Hindon elevated road. An FIR for theft was filed at the Indirapuram police station in this case.