No enough RPF men to curb railway offences
A sum of Rs 10, 35,180 was recovered as fine
KOZHIKODE: The shortage of Railway Protection Force personnel is hindering the checking of trespassers on railway premises. In most cases, offences within the railway premises, including crossing the railway track, illegal parking of vehicles and entering platforms without tickets often go unnoticed owing to the staff shortage.
Under Palakkad division of Southern Railway, nearly 50 posts of RPF are lying vacant across Shoranur, Tirur, Kozhikode, Thalassery, Kannur, Kasargod, Mangalore Central and Junction stations.
In Palakkad division itself, there are only 13 women RPF personnel to escort the ladies compartments. A railway source disclosed that even the allotted strength was according to the train traffic decades ago and now the ratio of RPF strength to that of train commuters would show a shocking disparity. In Kozhikode, the shortage is three, in Kasargod 7 and in Mangalore 14.
The paucity of staff is reflected in the number of cases tried in the railway court too. From January to September, as many as 5,571 cases were registered at the Special Judicial Second Class Magistrate Railway Court in Kozhikode, which has a jurisdiction from Tirur to Mangalore.
A sum of Rs 10, 35,180 was recovered as fine. Railway officials say that considering the wide area and number of stations covered under the court, the number of offences registered was just the tip of the iceberg.
The officials at the court say that glaring instances of railway rules are often noticed in Kasargod and Kannur districts.
“In Kasargod, a dangerous sight every morning is that of government employees alighting from the train and crossing the tracks, frantically trying to catch the bus outside the station premise to reach the collectorate.
No one bothers about the train which may appear on the second track or using the foot overbridge,” the source said.
The court has 10 sittings in Kozhikode in a month and two sittings at Kasargod and Kannur stations and one each at Tirur, Thalassery, Vadakara, Koyilandy, Farook stations.