Pune Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Renu Sharma said the administration was following up with higher authorities to procure the requisite number of security equipment. (Representational image)
Pune Railway station, among the ‘most sensitive’ locations in the city in terms of security, lacks enough metal detectors and baggage scanners.
Officials said the station needs a total of 14 metal detectors and six baggage scanners. Currently, however, it has two metal detectors and one baggage scanner. They added that existing equipment was procured more than 10 years ago, and no new procurement has happened in recent years.
Pune Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Renu Sharma said the administration was following up with higher authorities to procure the requisite number of security equipment. “As part of the Integrated Security System (ISS) project, we are acquiring all kinds of security equipment…12 new metal detectors and five new baggage scanners will be procured by our RPF (Railway Protection Force) team,” Sharma said. She added that 539 CCTV cameras will also be installed at Pune station as well as other stations in Pune Division. “Presently, we have 61 CCTV cameras… we have proposed to install 63 new ones to improve coverage,” Sharma said. “Eighteen other stations will get CCTV cameras as well.”
Officials said three kinds of cameras —PTZ (pan, tilt, zoom), Fixed Box and Fixed Dome — will be installed at various stations, including Shivajinagar, Khadki, Dapodi, Kasarwadi, Pimpri, Chinchwad, Akurdi, Dehu Road, Talegaon, Khorawadi and Kamshet, among others.
According to officials, the ISS scheme plans to strengthen surveillance of railway stations with the installation of CCTV cameras, access control, personal and baggage screening systems and bomb detection and disposal systems. It also plans to identify unauthorised openings and seal the station with permanent boundary walls, deploying RPF personnel or installing collapsible gates Officials said there are seven unauthorised entry points to Pune station and its surrounding areas, of which two have been closed recently. “We are working on closing the rest of the unauthorised points to secure the railway premises…As per ISS, a crowd management and VIP movement plan will also be put in place,” Sharma said.
Sharma took over as the new DRM for Pune Division last month. She said her priorities were to de-congest the station and put systems for crowd management in place.
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