Anand Vijay Jha, Senior Divisional Security Commissioner (RPF), Western Railway, in an exclusive interview with dna, shares the work done in the past year and what RPF has to offer to commuters in 2016
The Railway Police Force under the guidance of Anand Vijay Jha, Senior Divisional Security Commissioner (RPF), Western Railway, has done fantastic work in the last year, and has concretised the plan for this year as well. For 2016, Jha explains that the major focus will be on maintaining the work that they have completed since 2014, tackling railway track trespassing on a larger scale and increasing surveillance on the trains and platforms.
Relief from hawkers
A major landmark of 2015 has been the tackling of one of the most difficult issues that the city faces today—hawkers. Jha’s mission to make railway properties, especially foot over bridges (FOBs) free from hawkers, has been successful, just months into their drive. This is because of the immense planning that Jha does, and today, almost all the FOBs are hawker-free. Taking a step ahead regarding this issue, Jha promises to make 2016 a year when all the exit and entry points would be free of hawkers.
He explains, “Fifteen metres of the area outside the entry and exit points of the stations belongs to the BMC. So, we cannot take action against hawkers who are put up there. This creates a major hurdle for passengers who enter or exit the railway stations, especially those carrying heavy luggage. Right now, we are discussing with the BMC about granting us the permission to take action against such hawkers.” Jha is positive that if the BMC grants them the permission, then his force would certainly bring good results.
Unauthorised parking
Moving on to the next point is the problem that every citizen faces in the city, even in the narrow by-lanes of the city—unauthorised parking. This problem is faced by not only passengers, but also individuals who pick and drop them at the railway stations. The illegally parked taxis and rickshaws outside railway stations and within the railway property have become a nuisance. Jha plans to ensure that this menace is handled well in the new year; it features on his priority list for 2016.
The uber cool decoy team
People travelling in Virar locals must be aware of the concept of ‘seat cornering’, wherein individuals block seats for their friends boarding the same train from the next station. This is an annoying act and several passengers are hassled by it. To tackle this, a new ‘decoy' team has been formed comprising well-trained officers in civil clothes who board the trains. Jha elaborates, “We have received several complaints from passengers regarding this issue and we feel that it is high time we take some action against this. So, these officers dressed in civil clothes keep a tab on such passengers and in several cases hand them over to the GRP.” These complaints come majorly from Nalla Sopara and Vasai stations, so the teams frequent these places. As an extra step, Nalla Sopara will soon have a RPF thana. This team also keeps a vigilant check on cases of mobile thefts and chain snatching.
Ticketing fraud
Various ticketing agents across the city are authorised to book e-tickets from IRCTC but unfortunately, there are thousands of unauthorised agents who book e-tickets illegally. In 2015, the RPF was able to crack down on a lot of cases across the city in multiple raids. The force seized 3,021 e-tickets, arrested 171 people in 132 cases and collected a fine of more than Rs. 75 lakh (as of Nov 2015). Jha adds, “We have been able to bust the racket of e-ticketing and have collected a huge amount of fine from the sale of illegal e-tickets in the raid. This number is the highest in India. Nowhere else in the country has anybody collected such a high number of illegal tickets in raids!”
Trespassing troubles
FOBs, although viewed as an inconvenience by a majority of passengers, are essential for commuter safety as they are the most secure way to cross over the railway tracks. Unfortunately, thousands of Mumbaikars, in order to save time, end up trespassing the railway tracks. This is not only harmful for the lives of the people who cross the tracks, but it also ends up endangering the lives of the passengers on board the train, as the motorman needs to apply emergency brakes to prevent an accident due to trespassing. Across the city, railway officials have been constantly alerting and announcing about the dangers of track-trespassing, but few people pay heed. Tackling this issue, in the best possible manner, is something that tops Jha’s list for 2016.
New RPF thana will come up in 2016:
Factsheet:
The RPF has done a commendable job in cracking down cases under various offences and this can be verified by the following statistics sourced from them:
Offence |
Section |
No. of cases registered in 2014 |
No. of cases registered in 2015 (up till Nov) |
Touting |
143 |
69 |
122 |
Hawkers |
144 |
3,834 |
5,603 |
| Drunkenness and Nuisance |
145 (b) |
4,013 |
5,710 |
| Trespassing |
147 |
8,771 |
8,767 |
Unauthorised Parking |
159 |
1,733 |
3,266 |
E-ticketing fraud:
Year |
Tout cases |
Persons arrested |
No. of e-tickets |
Value of e-tickets |
| 2014 |
31 |
35 |
936 |
Rs. 12,04,258 |
2015 |
132 |
171 |
3,021 |
Rs. 75,15,925 |
Priority for 2016:
- Zero tolerance for unauthorised parking
- Deploying more decoy teams to keep a watch on chain snatching, mobile thefts and seat-cornering
- Hawker-free exit and entry points at the railway stations
Get in touch:
- To send any kind of information via WhatsApp, send it to 9004499718. For any kind of railway emergency, call 1311.
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