An anonymous call to the Byculla control room, claiming a bomb being planted on a train at Kalyan, sent the railway administration and commuters into a tizzy.
Three early-morning calls — threatening to blow up trains — send commuters into a tizzy
Pranksters had a field day on Friday. An anonymous early-morning call to the Byculla control room – claiming a bomb being planted on a train at Kalyan – sent the railway administration and commuters into a tizzy.
Much earlier, even before the dawn-break, another call to the Mumbai Central control room claimed a bomb had been placed the 7.48 Churchgate local from Virar. Adding to the frenzy, another unidentified man also the warned the city police of many blasts on the suburban network on Friday.
Expectedly, commuters were on their toes. While the administration pulled up their sleeves and beefed up security throughout the suburban areas, people made frantic calls and sent messages asking and informing about hoax calls. “I heard that there is a bomb blast between Borivali and Kandivali. Is it true?” Pratibha Pawar showed the inbox of her cellphone which was flooded with such messages.
“I was nervous and did not know how to react,” she said. The city police, Government Railway Police and the Railway Protection Force, along with the railway officials, were deployed at various sites to undertake security checks.
“As soon as the city police informed us at 3 am, then we have begun thorough inspection. While the police have been deployed at specific stations, special dog squads and other mobile squads were busy checking platforms and also trains,” said Pranai Prabhakar, chief spokesperson, Western Railway.
Railway yards and car sheds are vulnerable spots where touts and criminal elements can easily plant explosives. “Railways cannot ignore any calls made about placing of explosives. Unless the authorities are assured of absence of explosives the system remains affected,” he said. An unidentified man called up the control room saying that a bomb had been planted at Kalyan station at 7 am.
“The same time, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus-Benares Express was to reach the station. It was immediately halted when it arrived. The security was beefed up and after checking the station thoroughly the train left at 7.10 am,” said Ashok Singh, spokesperson for Central Railway.
The next call was made to the GRP control room at Byculla and informed that explosives had been planted on the suburban local trains. “Besides normal security dog squads, bomb detection and disposal squads and mobile squads were deployed at important stations, including Mumbai Central, Dadar, Bandra and Virar,” said a railway official.
“We do not mind being halted for some time provided we are assured of a secured journey ahead,” said Kapil Mehta, a middle-aged man.
He said, “Normally after every terrorist attack, the government gets alerted but no firm action is taken to fight terrorists. We talk about initiating strong action against the detractors but actually do not do anything against these perpetrators. How many more deaths and terror strikes do we need to beef up our security system?”
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