Who will protect the Security Force

Guards go missing on danger tracks
SANJAY MANDAL
The railway ministry seems more bothered about the safety of its security personnel than the lives of passengers.

People travelling by trains passing through a 43-km stretch between Jasidih in Jharkhand and Jhajha in Bihar are at the mercy of Maoists and criminals like those who shot Howrah resident Siuji Prasad Gupta on Friday night because none of these has guards on board.

Railway minister Mamata Banerjee has announced a Rs 350-crore integrated security scheme for “important stations” but no plan has been drawn up yet to protect passengers from robbers on moving trains.

Escorts, including Railway Protection Force and Government Railway Police, were withdrawn from trains passing through the area a year ago after Maoists started targeting them for arms and ammunition. The decision was jointly taken by the railways and the state governments of Bihar and Jharkhand.

“We couldn’t have allowed our personnel to become sitting ducks for Maoists attacking trains mainly to loot arms and ammunition,” a senior RPF official said on Sunday. “The spate of incidents last year proved that the Maoists target security personnel, not passengers,” he added.

But what about criminals who prey on passengers? “There’s a flip side to everything,” the official admitted.

Several north India-bound trains from Calcutta pass through that stretch, which comes under both Eastern and East Central Railway. The trains include the Rajdhani Express through Patna, which runs on Sundays, Poorva Express, Toofan Express, Danapur Express and Amritsar Mail, on which Gupta was shot.

Rattled by Friday night’s incident, the rail authorities have requested the Bihar and Jharkhand governments to “jointly deploy” escorts on trains passing through the stretch. “A joint security plan will be drawn up in a day or two,” said B. Mohan, the chief security commissioner of Eastern Railway.

Of the 227 long-distance and 1,600 local trains to and from the city, only 113 are manned by the RPF. The GRP provides personnel for a similar number of trains.

Most passengers are unaware about passing through a Maoist den without security, while those who do board a train with a prayer on their lips. “It is scary. The last time I was on the Amritsar Mail, I noticed that there were no guards on the train. When a team boarded the train at Jhajha, I asked them why they weren’t there when we were crossing the inter-state border. I was shocked to hear that they were not supposed to guard a train passing through a Maoist-infested area,” said Sanjib Mukherjee, a company executive who often travels to Patna.

It is indeed surprising.
The security forces cannot even protect themselves so how can they protect the travelling public.
Our politicians have destroyed all discipline so at the first sign of trouble these protectors run away.
We saw that happen during the attack on the American Consulate in Kolkata.
What are then they paid for?
The government neither gives them proper training nor arms.
Appointments are made on the basis of castes to fulfil quotas and payment made to the touts in between.
So we are seeing the result.
There will be many more 26/11 with the politician we have.