Train travel: Security guaranteed?

Jamshedpur, Dec. 11: The Maoists’ raid on Tatanagar-Kharagpur passenger yesterday came as a jolt to Indian Railway’s motto — safety, security and punctuality.

Nearly 24 hours on, railway authorities promised better security to passengers in daytime apparently in a bid to recover from the setback but the Maoists raiding the train were still at large.

East Singhbhum district police launched an intensive combing operation in the bordering areas of Jharkhand and Bengal today to pin the Naxalites. Superintendent of police Pankaj Darad said the Naxalite group that attacked the train near Chakulia yesterday belonged to Bengal.

“Preliminary investigations have revealed that the Naxalites had camped at Jamboni village, about a kilometre inside the Bengal border. After the attack, the Maoists retreated towards the same place,” said Darad.

He pointed out that the Maoists selected the spot near Jharkhand-Bengal border to avert immediate retaliation from the police as it takes some time to co-ordinate joint combing operations.

The armed Naxalites managed to snatch two rifles from RPF jawans and a walkie-talkie set from the guard before disappearing into the nearby woods.

The contemplation of the railway authorities after the incident to deploy jawans trained in special guerrilla warfare on running trains in the daytime as well reveal the volte-face of the South Eastern Railway (SER) administration.

At present, RPF jawans trained to foil Naxalite attacks escort passenger trains at night. These jawans guard the trains passing thought Naxalite-prone areas. They are also used in special operations.

Around 200 RPF jawans imparted training on special guerrilla warfare in north-eastern India and other parts of the country have been pressed into service in the four divisions of SER — Chakradharpur, Kharagpur, Ranchi and Adra.

Inspector-general of Railway Protection Force (SER) T.K. Sanyal said jawans trained in guerrilla warfare are used to escort trains at night.

“Apart from RPF jawans trained in guerrilla warfare, others also escort trains,” Sanyal said.

After yesterday’s attack on Tatanagar-Kharagpur passenger by suspected Maoists, he felt the need to depute a few RPF jawans trained in guerrilla warfare to escort trains even in the daytime.

“I will soon issue a circular to the divisional security commissioner of each division of SER for taking services of RPF jawans trained to foil Naxalite attacks,” Sanyal said.

“We need to change the strategy related to security of passengers depending on the situation,” Sanyal told The Telegraph over phone from Garden Reach, the SER headquarters in Calcutta.

Divisional security commissioner, Chakradharpur, Santosh Dubey said: “We have been using the RPF jawans, who underwent guerrilla warfare training, for escorting trains at night.”

Dubey said the Chakradharpur division has around 50 RPF jawans trained in guerrilla warfare. He added that the headquarters of RPF (at Garden Reach) has not issued any guideline related to deployment of trained jawans on trains so far.