Rlys wants states to provide security

Dinesh Trivedi is going to write to all chief ministers to demand special security

Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi is going to write to all chief ministers to demand special security arrangement for guards posted at manned level-crossings across the country following a spate of accidents at the crossings this year.

The move was prompted after Thursdays incident of a bunch of inebriated youth in a car roughing up a level-crossing guard early morning at Baghpat and forcing open the gates to cross. While the car crossed over,a truck,which followed the car seeing the gates open,got rammed by a speeding Delhi-bound passenger train at 5.45 am leading to the engine and two coaches going off track and derailing traffic for four hours.

This kind of incident happened earlier in Bharatpur as well. This is a law and order problem beyond the control of the Railways. So we have to rope in the state authorities to address this, said a senior official in the Railway Board.

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Trivedi,it is learnt,has decided to make this an important item of discussions in his forthcoming visits to the various states where he meets chief ministers and local members of Parliament.

Instructions have gone out of the Railway Board to all zones to increase frequency and number of bulk SMSes sent to thousands in states,sensitising locals.

Of the 33,000 level crossings in India,over half,or 17,839 are manned while 14,896,are unmanned. While Railways are in the process of manning the remaining ones,the number of accidents at these crossings has been on an increase. We have had 225 casualties from accidents at crossings between April and October alone, he said. Its around a 27 per cent jump from figures of same period last year.

In the letter being sent,Trivedi will furnish these details to make a case for special arrangements for the manned crossings. There are several crossings,like the one in Baghpat,where the guard has no access to law-enforcement agencies nearby.