By Lalu Prasad Yadavs calculations,the Indian Railways has cash surpluses to the tune of Rs 90,000 crore,accumulated in the five years of his tenure. However,his officers are apparently unable to find a small fraction of that amount to strengthen the security of railway properties and passengers. At a meeting to review railway security,top officers of the Railway Board including chairman S S Khurana and Member Staff A K Goyal told the Home Ministry that measures to strengthen security in trains and at railway stations were being held up due to lack of funds. These include augmentation of staff in the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and acquiring state-of-the-art security equipment like CCTVs,luggage scanners,bomb disposal squads and dog squads,to be placed at railway stations. The railway officials wanted the Home Ministry to provide funds for adding more personnel for the RPF and also for raising three new battalions of the Railway Protection Special Force (RPSF),the armed wing of the RPF. The meeting was attended among others by Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta and RPF Director General Ranjit Sinha. Sources said Gupta was not happy with the attitude of the railway officials and told them that it was ready to allocate the funds provided that the administrative control of the RPSF was placed under the Home Ministry. The response is said to have taken the railway officials by surprise and they agreed to look afresh on the viability of the security upgradation projects. Wednesdays meeting was held to review security arrangements to strengthen protection of railway property and passengers in the wake of Mumbai terrorist strikes during which maximum casualties had been reported from the Mumbai CST railway station. Railway property had also come under attack during the Gurjjar agitation and on several other occasions. Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had promised on the floor of Parliament that the strength of the RPF would be augmented by 22,000 personnel. He had also announced a composite security scheme worth Rs 600 crore to install security equipment at all major railway stations. At the meeting,however,the Railway Board officials argued that ensuring security was the sovereign duty of the state and the Railways,being a commercial organisation,should not be burdened with this task. The argument did not cut much ice with the Home Ministry and it instructed the railway officials to take up this matter on an urgent basis,particularly the raising of new battalions of the RPSF.
