Title - Railways to take more women into RPF

Union Minister of State for Railways K.J. Suryaprakash Reddy on Thursday reiterated the Indian Railways’ resolve to ensure the safety of women commuting in trains by making the Railway Protection Force (RPF) more gender sensitive.Mr. Reddy laid a foundation stone for the doubling and electrification works in the Vijayawada-Gudivada/Machilipatnam-Bhimavaram/Narsapur-Nidadavole sections here.The project covering a distance of 221 km. in West Godavari and Krishna districts is proposed to be executed with an estimated cost of Rs.1,500 crore within a time limit of three years.Speaking at a function in this connection, Mr. Reddy said the railways had decided to fill 10 per cent of the existing constabulary vacancies numbering around 14,000 with women in the Railway Protection Force (RPF) as part of the endeavour. He informed that the railways was contemplating introduction of two Shatabdi Express train services in the Vijayawada-Hyderabad section and double-decker trains in the State.

Raw deal

Admitting the ‘raw deal’ the State has been reportedly receiving in allocations from the railway budget for expansion and upgradation of the rail network in the State, Mr. Suryaprakash Reddy claimed to be striving hard to ‘keep the record straight’. “I used to raise my voice against the injustice meted out to the State in different forums until I assumed charge as a Railway Minister. Now I am working hard to undo that sort of injustice”, he stated.

The allocations in the railway budget for the State had never crossed Rs. 300-400 crore for several years. There were more than 30 pending projects in State relating to the rail network which required at least Rs. 40,000 crore, the Minister explained. “It is my bounden duty to complete all these pending projects by securing adequate funds from the government”, he added.

The South Central Railways General Manager Devi Prasad Pandey expressed the hope that the traffic congestion on the mainline of Eluru-Vijayawada would come down to a greater extent with the proposal for doubling and electrification works on the branch lines of Vijayawada-Gudivada/Machilipatnam-Bhimavaram/Narsapur-Nidadavole sections.