MP M K Raghavan seeks to reopen bomb detection squad office

KOZHIKODE: Kozhikode MP M.K. Raghavan has sought immediate intervention of the Southern Railway general manager and divisional railway manager to reopen the bomb detection squad office of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) at Kozhikode railway station. Deccan Chronicle had reported on Saturday about the closure of the office for the past six months. “More than 60,000 passengers frequent the Kozhikode railway station every day,” the MP said in his letter to Southern Railway general manager Vashishta Johri.

“The city is the commercial and educational hub of North Kerala. This station is the one and only A1 category station of Palakkad division. A majority of A1 stations of other divisions in Southern Railway like Thiruvananthapuram, Madurai, Trichy and Salem have full-fledged RPF bomb squads.”

He said certain spots in north Kerala were alleged to have the presence of extremists and hence functioning of a bomb squad was imperative in Kozhikode railway station. Besides, scarcity of manpower in the RPF in Kozhikode railway station made the state-of-the-art security gadgets rusty and unusable.

Railway divisional security commissioner (Palakkad) Chokka Raghuveer had earlier said that though officials were not permanently available, they would be during an emergency. It was in 2013 that the special squad started functioning in Kozhikode with one assistant sub-inspector and three constables.