Title - Heritage watch: GRP locks horns with Railways

Local GRP build permanent check-post at one of the Pune Railway Station entrances; Railways official says it will create issues during rush hour

Dheeraj Bengrut

Posted On Thursday, October 03, 2013 at 09:33:05 AM

The Government Railway Police (GRP) has locked horns with the Pune division of Indian Railways over setting up permanent check-posts at all three entrances of Pune Station.

While the Divisional Regional Manager was dilly-dallying over the proposal, given the heritage structure of the station, the local GRP office took matters into its own hands and set up a basic brick and cement security post at one of the entrances, adjacent to its own office.

Pics: Nikhil Ghorpade

The proposal was forwarded to the divisional regional manager’s office only a month ago and after two inconclusive meetings and a letter that did not yield a response, GRP set up the crude checkpost almost touching the heritage structure.

“We want check-posts where a gunman will be posted round the clock,” Abhay Parmar, GRP inspector, told Mirror. “We felt the need, on account of the crowds at the station and the growing threat perception arising out of terror attacks in the city,” he added.   “We need to understand that Pune railway station is a heritage site and any changes inside or outside require to be cleared by relevant authorities,” Suneet Sharma, divisional regional manager at Pune Station explained.   He also raised other objections to the proposal. “Building permanent structures will congest the entrances to the station and become an issue for passengers during rush hours,” he argued. Up until now, authorities have gone with temporary installations like piling cement bags in a line.

“Such posts can be made in any size and according to need,” Sharma noted. Having said this, the DRM has not closed his door to GRP.

“We will have further talks with GRP on the need and possibility of constructing permanent posts at other entrances,” he said. He, however, has no action plan against the GRP’s unilateral decision to construct a permanent structure outside the heritage structure without the requisite permissions.

“That area is beyond our jurisdiction,” he shrugged off. Interestingly, GRP is not clueless about the formalities involved in pushing through such proposals in a heritage site. “Aware of this, we initiated our talks with the DRM,” Parmar said. But, clearly, his patience ran out quickly.

Every day, over 10,000 passengers pass through Pune Railway Station. All entrances have metal detectors and are manned by police drawn from both the and Railway Police Force (RPF).