Sankat mochini squad for lady passengers in East Coast Railways

Bhubaneswar, May 29 (UNI) The East Coast Railways(ECoR) has introduced women RPF squad called ''Sankat Mochini'' for the protection and safety of women passengers.

Stating this to the newsmen here, ECoR General Manager N K Goel said such a ''mahila squad'' had been formed in Khurda Road division of the ECoR comprising lady constables from the Railway Protection Force(RPF).

Mr Goel said the squad popularly known as the ''Sankat Mochini'' would travel on running trains on random basis to ensure the safety of the women passengers in the train.

He said the women squad was introduced as very often it was noticed that the male RPF personnel were finding it difficult to handle the problems of the women passengers traveling in the train.

Mr Goel said it was also decided that one woman constable would be accompanying in each RPF squad to look after the safety of the women passengers.

The ECoR General Manager said normally 45-50 numbers of trains on an average were escorted daily by the RPF over the East Coast Railways for protection of the passengers and their belongings. In addition the GRP, he said, was escorting 31 trains of the division.

He said proposals are under consideration to introduce electronic surveillance of platform areas of Visakhapatanam and Puri stations, while access control measures had been taken in seven important stations including Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri to keep the stations free from undesirable elements.

Mr Goel said the surveillance of platform areas of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack had been taken up through surveillance cameras.

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