Who will man the metro stations?
Top cops suggest special security wing
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-07-12 06:15 GMT
Chennai: With the initial euphoria over the launch of the metro slowly dying down, the senior police officials are now seriously looking at the safety and security of Chennai Metro Rail, which became operational two weeks ago.
The state DGP Ashok Kumar and Chennai city police commissioner S. George on Saturday took a ride on the metro from Koyambedu to Alandur along with a team of senior officers. The officers reportedly held talks with Pankaj Kumar Bansal, managing director of CMRL over safety and security at the stations. At present, CMRL has deployed some private security guards at the newly opened stations.
A huge project of this magnitude needs fool-proof security system, police sources said. “There should be a dedicated force for the security at Metro Rail stations on the lines of Delhi Metro,” a police officer said. In Delhi, CISF is in charge of the security of the metro rail. In Mumbai, there is a special state industrial security force to handle security of specialised areas.
“We need to create a separate force, headed by an officer at least in the rank of DIG, for the Metro Rail. It should be done on priority basis,” the officer said. The private security personnel are not trained to handle sabotage, defacing or other criminal acts at the stations. “We are not taking about the safety and security inside the railway stations alone. We need to keep a vigil externally as well,” another officer pointed out.