Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurated the Round Table Conference with non Railway Stakeholders on Railway Security Issues.

Minister of State for Railways Shri Rajen Gohain was specially be present to grace the occasion. Chairman, Railway Board, Shri A. K. Mital, Member (Staff) Railway Board Shri Pradeep Kumar, other Railway Board Members and senior officials were also present on the occasion. Shri S.K. Bhagat, DG/RPF summed up the deliberations at the end of the daylong session. The inputs by various stakeholders were submitted in course of the discussion and effort will be made to implement them.

Speaking on the occasion Minister of Railways Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu said that Safety and Security on Railways has always been challenging and hence have acquired great importance. There are lot of challenges in safe & secured running of trains. In India there are various vulnerable sections in our network. Indian Railways is looking at different ideas from different stakeholders for improving the security issues in Railways. For Example Indian Railways has started Central monitoring system for monitoring security in Konkan Railways. Railways is now giving more emphasis on intelligence gathering and forensic issues. Indian Railways is taking various additional measures to improve the security of women passengers across its network. Indian Railways has to closely work with local police as the Law & Order is a State Subject. This ideation is needed to meet new challenges in Security issues of Indian Railways.

In his address Member Staff Railway Board Shri Pradeep Kumar said that soft skill training is being provided progressively to develop a more proactive and sensitive approach towards the needs of the passengers especially ladies, minors, differently abled, sick and elderly. He also added that Security of tourists especially foreign tourists over Indian Railways has been accorded a high priority with a view to promote tourism in India.

In his welcome address DG (RPF) Shri SK Bhagat said that It is indeed a challenge to connect to the large volume of passengers and address their concerns and RPF has been using extensive use of social media like facebook, twitter and security helpline 182 for redressal of Passenger grievances. He also said that 182 calls have witnessed significant increase with 32.2% calls like medical attendance, passenger amenities, milk for infants etc with passenger satisfaction level over 90%.

Background:

It is being increasingly realized that in prevailing security scenario over Indian railways, the railway security apparatus needs to collaborate with other stakeholders for delivering the service as per the need of the people. The requirements are to be assessed by involving the stakeholders and the delivery system should be evaluated by taking feedback from them. In addition, the security agencies need to take their help too in providing service to passengers. RPF has been collaborating with GRP, State Police, NGOs like Childline, Prayas, Railway Children and several other NGOS involved in rescue and rehabilitation of children, destitute, women, old and differently abled persons. Interactions with statutory bodies like National and State Commissions for Women, Child Welfare Committees in addition to other entities like Passenger Associations, Merchant Associations, Chambers of Commerce etc are also being undertaken regularly. All non railway stakeholders will come together in Round table Discussion for deliberations on security related issues.

The discussion will be on a range of issues pertaining to Security on Railways. The speakers will make presentations on following six topics in 03 sessions of the conference:-

Session-I – Topics:

(i) Security of women on Railway – Challenges & Solutions, (Dr. Satbir Bedi, Member Secretary NCW, Dr. B Sandhya, ADGP/South Zone, Smt Sraddha More, President Maharashtra Rajya Mahila Pravasi Sanghathan, Smt Sunita Thakur, Counselor & Legal Advisor New Delhi)

(ii) Security of Trafficked/ Runaway/ Destitute children & Specially abled persons found on Railways (Shri Yashwant Jain, Member NCPCR. Shri Amod Kumar Kanth, General Secretary Prayas, Shri Navin Sellaraju, Director Railway Children India, Shri TMN Deepak, State President December 3 Movement)

Session-II – Topics:

(i) Measures to Control Theft, Snatching/ Robbery, Dacoity & Drugging on Railways (Shri Gopal Gupta, DGP, Shri Jasminder Singh, DG Rly, Shri Mukesh Kumar Meena, Special Commissioner, Shri Shashikant, Chairman Mumbai Suburban)

(ii) Sabotage & Suspected incidents of Sabotage in Railways in Preventive measures. (Shri Niket Kaushik, Commissioner, Shri KV Singh, ADGP, Smt Parul Mathur, Superintendent of Police)

Session-III – Topics:

(i) Awareness Programmes, Use of technology to improve security in Railways and Safeguard against Cyber crime in Railways (Shri Mukesh Kumar Meena, Special Commissioner, Shri Subodh Kaul Director Eyewatch, Shri Amrendra Kumar Pandey, Manager CSR)

(ii) Impact of Privatisation & Outsourcing on the security of Indian Railways & Remedial measures. (Shri Ravilesh Kumar, IRCTC, Shri Gopal Gupta, DGP, Shri Sushil Tandon, Doon Caterer, Shri Sumit Sharma, VPSSR Facilities)

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AKS/MKV/AK