Rail Commissionerate inaugurated

MUMBAI, OCT 2: Chief Minister Narayan Rane inaugurated the Mumbai Railway Commissionerate, the country's first, at the CST auditorium on ...

MUMBAI, OCT 2: Chief Minister Narayan Rane inaugurated the Mumbai Railway Commissionerate, the country8217;s first, at the CST auditorium on Saturday.

8220;Sixty lakh people travel in the city8217;s suburban Railways everyday. But there was no police to look after their safety. This new set-up will succeed only when people gain confidence in it and can travel without fear,8221; he said.

Minister of State for Railway, Ram Naik said that no other country in the world had as many passengers as the Mumbai Suburban Railways. 8220;Even with such old technology, we have been doing a great job for years. But recent trends of stone-throwing, increasing eve-teasing and violence made it imperative for us to have our own police,8221; he said, citing incidents of Jayabala Ashar and Sony Joseph.

8220;We all know how neglected the harbour line is, but till now there was not a single police station on the entire stretch. Now there will be three as Wadala, Vashi and Panvel. I have also forwarded a proposal to the Government for 2 specialcourts to deal with railway crimes.8221;

Haridas Rao, Director General, RPF, said India was the only country in the world which had no transit police uptil now. He asked for a separate symbol for the Railway police so that passengers would be able to distinguish them from other forces. He also said the Railway police jurisdiction should include not only areas till the outer signals, but even block sections.

Deputy CM Gopinath Munde who arrived late from Kolhapur said a society for 850 Railway porters had been sanctioned in Thane. 8220;There are 3 generations of them working here with no home of their own,8221; he said. Others present at the function were Minister of State for Home Bala Nandgaonkar, Maharashtra Director General of Police Arvind Inamdar, Chief Secretary Arun Bongirwar, Special IG Railways S Chakrawarty, the general manager of Central and Western Railway and a host of other dignitaries.

The new commissionerate will be headed by Shamshuddin Mushrif.