BENGALURU: Women passengers on board railways can look forward to much safer journeys on board all trains crisscrossing Bengaluru Railway Division. On Wednesday, Rs 1 crore from the Nirbhaya funds was sanctioned to the Railway Protection Force (RPF) to boost the safety of women passengers.
The funds will help put in place an advanced security system for women passengers, said a senior RPF official. Drones, body cameras with face recognition software (FRS) that would instantly alert the RPF control room about familiar offenders, and improved lighting at access roads to railway stations and platforms of poorly lit railway stations are being planned.
For nearly six months, RPF has been carrying out trial runs of body cams at the City railway station to keep a tab on all kinds of offenders. The newly approved fund would help empower the 12 members in the two Shakti teams, ‘Chennama’ and ‘Abbakka’, apart from other RPF personnel, the official said.
“It was a woman techie, who travels regularly to work on trains, who suggested we incorporate FRS in body cameras so that security personnel can immediately receive an alert in case of offenders. Body cams had only been used in isolation earlier. One of trial runs carried out, alerted us to the presence of 47 criminals in the station in one month,” the official said. the incorporation of cams with FRS embedded in them will be done for the first time in the country.
Special attention will be paid to the Bengaluru-Mysuru section and Bengaluru-Bangarpet section as a vast number of working women complain of harassment along these sections. It will help nab chain snatchers easily, he added.
The shortage of staffers would be managed with the help of drones which can be used for dense and far off routes. “The support of level crossing gate staffers will be mobilised to facilitate landing of drones,” the official said.
The entire operation would be manned with the help of a 16ftX9ft giant screen being readied in the Control Room. Asked about the time frame, the official said that since funds were available, the purchase of equipments and installation could take three to four weeks.DRM A K Verma confirmed the sanction of the Nirbhaya funds to RPF.