Wire meshes on all train windows now

MARCH 12: In a direct response to the two ghastly incidents of commuters being blinded within a week, both the Central and Western Railwa...

MARCH 12: In a direct response to the two ghastly incidents of commuters being blinded within a week, both the Central and Western Railway general managers have promised to install wire meshes on all the windows of local trains.

Central Railway general manager K B Shankaran and Western Railway GM Vasudev Gupta gave this assurance to Minister of State for Home Prabhakar More on Wednesday. The wire meshes will be of the same quality as those currently installed on windows of first-class ladies compartments. CR spokesperson Mukul Marwah said the process had already begun, and the windows of the first selected batch of 10 CR rakes would be covered by April 15.

The two blinding cases also prompted a flurry of brainstorming within the state government. This week alone, Home Minister Gopinath Munde and the two Ministers of State for Home Prabhakar More and Ramdas Kadam held three separate meetings with senior police and railway police officials to tackle the menace.

GRP officials, who suggested installinggrills on locals in August last year, estimate that the move could reduce the number of stone-throwing cases by at least half. A case in point was that of journalist Ramesh Dave, who was blinded by a stone which hit his left eye even as he slept near a window of a Borivli-bound local.

The WR has 64 rakes and CR, 109. Railway officials estimate it could easily take over six months to weld the wire meshes on to the rakes. The welding work will be undertaken after the rakes are withdrawn during periodic maintenance.

Meanwhile, the city unit of the BJP launched a week-long awareness campaign to educate slumdwellers near railway tracks on harmful effects of stone throwing. President of BJP8217;s city unit Kirit Somaiya said BJP activists held awareness meetings at Mahim, Matunga and Kings Circle, appealing to slumdwellers to hand over miscreants behind stone throwing to the police.

In a meeting with Somaiya on Thursday, Home Minister Munde said persons throwing stones would be booked under OCCA.