RPF too enlists ‘friends’ to help passengers

Railway Protection Force will register genuine volunteers who would like to help the force in fighting criminal activities at railway stations. “Instructions in this regard has already been given to the station heads. They will display a poster in the railway stations calling for volunteers who would like to enrol as friends of RPF. At present we are aiming at enrolling 25 persons per railway stations,” K K Ashraf, senior divisional security commissioner, Chennai, told DTNext. 

The idea regarding formation of such a force was emerged during one of the several brainstorming sessions RPF held with passenger associations following the murder of software professional Swathi at Nungambakkam railway station. 

“The idea emerged in one of these sessions and we also found it to be a good one. For a security agency like us, the channel of information is very important and with these volunteers we are trying to open up a new information channel,” Ashraf said. 

The volunteers, once selected, will be given basic training regarding their area of work and how they could help RPF in keeping the railway stations safes. These volunteers will monitor the activities in the station and its premises and would report to the RPF station heads regarding any illegal activities happening and would also keep an eye on the trouble makers at the station. 

“We are planning to enrol only genuine persons who are interested in helping RPF. We do not want any of these volunteers to take advantage of the position given to them. So we have given instructions to the officials to screen the volunteers and to enrol only those who are trustworthy,” the official added. RPF has been finding it extremely difficult to man all the stations under Chennai division with the existing sanctioned strength. 

The passenger and train traffic volume have gone up manifold but the manpower requirement has not been revised for several decades. Friends of RPF will also help the agency to tide over this manpower shortage as it would reduce the workload on Railway Protection Force personnel.