Odisha Police asks railways to train GRP on bomb detection

Bhubaneswar, June 26: The Odisha Police has urged the railways to train GRP personnel so that they can detect and defuse bombs, officials said. Odisha's Director General of Police (DGP), R P Sharma, came up with the suggestion on Tuesday during the first quarterly meeting of the state level security committee for the railways here.

"The Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel should be trained to detect and diffuse bombs," Sharma said. He also suggested that a joint team comprising GRP and RPF personnel should be formed so that it can prevent drug trafficking within the jurisdiction of the railways.

"Special squads are on the job and are trying to prevent illegal transportation of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances in trains and railway station premises," Sharma said. A list of criminals with their photographs should be prepared and they should be under surveillance, the Inspector General (IG) of Railway Protection Force (RPF), SE Railway, SC Parhi, said.

It was also decided that the railways will be asked to improve the infrastructure facilities for the GRP personnel. "Decision was taken to increase the cooperation between RPF and GRP by holding monthly meetings at the level of SRP and DSC RPF where day to day bottlenecks faced during the work can be sorted out," a senior official said after the meeting.

Safety and security of railway passengers was also discussed in the meeting. The Odisha Police requested the RPF to installing baggage scanners at important railway stations and increase the number of CCTVs at important railway stations, the official said.