RailEnquiry

Kolkata/HOWRAH: The state governments will have to bear the responsibility for crimes against women on trains and railway premises as most of them are escorted by the Government Railway Police (GRP), minister of state for railways Adhir Chowdhury said in Kolkata on Friday.Chowdhury said this in reply to questions by journalists at the inauguration of the 61st All India Railways Table Tennis Championship, 2013 at the BNR Officers' Club in the South Eastern Railway's headquarters at Garden Reach.On Sunday evening, a 25-year-old techie jumped out from a running long-distance train near the Belur station, about six km from Howrah, after being allegedly tormented by a molester in a compartment meant for women. The Delhi-Janata Express - from which she jumped - was supposed to have a GRP escort. After the incident, GRP officers had claimed that escorts are only provided in the night. Moreover, there aren't sufficient personnel available at the moment due to the panchayat elections in West Bengal, they had said.

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) is primarily entrusted with protection of railway property. Law and order being a state subject, the GRP - half of the expenses of which are borne by the railways - deal with crime against passengers, either on trains or station premises. According to Chowdhury, of the over 17,000 trains run by the Indian Railways everyday, only 2,200 are escorted by RPF personnel (under an arrangement with the GRP). There had been effort by the Centre to grant more powers to the RPF but there were objections from the state governments.

"Apart from the 2,200 long-distance trains, security on all others and stations are provided by the GRP. The GRP is managed by the state governments and the railways just foot 50% cost. There is no way that the railways can be blamed for any crime on trains or station premises," the minister said. Of the 2,200 trains with RPF escorts, 440 are from Howrah, Sealdah or the Kolkata stations.

The only exception to this rule is the Metro Railway in Kolkata. Though the Metro Railway Police (a part of Kolkata Police) is essentially in charge of law and order, the RPF does patrol the stations and trains and has also set up special squads to prevent crime against women.

In the evening, Choudhury visited the East-West Metro construction site at Howrah Maidan, but could shed little light on its future. "We are not getting cooperation from the state government, so work has been stalled. The state must extend full co-operation for execution of any Metro project. The issue of route realignment is getting more and more complex," the minister said.

The Rs 4,875-crore project that proposes to connect the cities of Howrah and Kolkata by rail through a tunnel below the Hooghly has been stalled since October, 2012, as the Mamata Banerjee government has been pushing for route-realignment. The uncertainty has left Afcons, the construction company, in the lurch since they can't dig in the tunnel boring machine to construct the underground tracks.

"Funds are not a problem. We shall generate another Rs 400 crore during this fiscal," Chowdhury said.