RPF and Railway Administration not fully coordinated: Panel

New Delhi, Jun 18 (UNI) Noting that a desired level of compatibility between the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Railway Administration has remained a far cry, a parliamentary panel has called for evolving a mechanism to ensure that the two entities function 'more homogenously'.

Commenting on Action Taken Notes on 'Safety and Security in Indian Railways', a ministry official said the report of the committee on integration of RPF with other departments of the Railways was received last year and was under the active consideration of the Railway Board.

The Standing Committee on Railways, in its report, had said the Railway Protection Force Act, 1957 was amended twice in 1985 and 2003, but no change was made in the administration and superintendence of the RPF.

The committee found that against the sanctioned strength of 6,31,536 staff in safety categories in Railways, there were 78,564 vacancies as in November 2004, constituting about 12.44 per cent of the sanctioned strength.

''Such a large number of vacancies in the safety categories certainly do affect the safety and operation of trains,'' it said, adding that the Railways were subjecting their employees to perform strenuous duties continuously in the absence of 'Rest Givers' and 'Leave Reserve' employees The panel also observed that the Railways had directed the Zonal Railways to take necessary steps towards publicising the new responsibilities assigned to RPF personnel, such as registration and investigation of minor offences in trains, after the amendment of the RPF Act, 1957.

However, mere issuance of the direction to the Zonal railways would not serve the purpose, the committee said.

It further observed that the Railway Ministry, having an actual staff strength of about 14.22 lakh as in March last year against the sanctioned strength of 15.96 lakh, is the largest employer after the Defence Ministry.

Out of this sanctioned strength, safety category accounted for the maximum stake of 7.5 lakh.

The committee found that safety category itself had 84,000 vacancies and hoped that these posts would be filled up at the earliest.

In the wake of December 2003 amendments in the RPF Act, 1957 and the Railways Act, 1989, the RPF was given additional responsibilities of security of railway passengers and passenger area.

''To perform the additional duties of train escorting and access control efficiently, two proposals are under consideration in the Railway Ministry for augmenting the strength of RPF -- fresh creation of 24,034 posts in non-gazetted cadre and 173 posts in gazetted cadre,'' the official said.

At present, the strength of Railway Protection Force personnel is 67,056.

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad had already announced recruitment of additional 24000 personnel for the RPF to increase its strength further and also promised to modernise the Force by equipping it with the latest weaponry.

Currently, RPF escorts 1392 trains every day and 3600 jawans have been deployed as part of strengthening the Access Control System at 696 railway stations, to prevent criminal activities.

UNI