Better security at Ernakulam Town railway station

Kochi: After the Ernakulam South, the Ernakulam Town railway station will be equipped with 20 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras covering every nook and corner within two months. The decision to bring it under CCTV surveillance on a war-footing was taken in the wake of rising incidents of crimes like baggage theft and chain-snatching on its premises. “The project has been included in the Nirbhaya scheme for its speedy implementation. Once installed, the CCTV surveillance system will be monitored round the clock by trained personnel of the Railway Protection Force (RPF),” a senior railway official said.

The ‘A’ category station clocks an annual passenger earnings of nearly Rs 50 crore and has a daily footfall of some 50, 000. So far the CCTV cameras were set up only at ‘A1’ category stations – Thiruvananthapuram Central, Ernakulam Jn, Thrissur and Kollam - all having annual earnings of over Rs 50 crore. “The division had submitted a proposal for approval of the Chennai headquarters for setting up CCTV cameras at vital spots of six ‘A’ category stations namely Ernakulam North, Kottayam, Chengannur, Nagercoil, Aluva and Kayamkulam. Now the work of Town station is set to commence shortly,“ said a senior RPF officer.

It is expected to have five high-quality surveillance cameras to be installed at strategic locations including entry and exit points besides a control room for monitoring. The Ernakulam South and Thiruvananthapuram stations have 26 cameras each under the Integrated Security System. “These surveillance systems proved helpful in the past when many crimes were unearthed by going through the CCTV images, and that includes the Kochi cocaine case. All the stations selected are recording an increasing number of footfalls and hence the need for the CCTVs,” the officer said.