NEW DELHI: The Railways will now recruit former Armymen for vacancies in the Railway Protection Force (RPF) for deployment in core areas. According to the officials, the recruitment advisories were modified for the purpose.
“General Managers are empowered to engage government security agencies like home guards, Maharashtra Industrial Security Force, etc or retired army personnel engaged through Sainik Kalyan Boards in core areas of railway security...,” the modified advisory said.
The modification was communicated by Railway Board executive director (transformation) AK Chandra to all the GMs of all railway zones.
Earlier, only home guards and Maharashtra Industrial Security Force personnel were eligible for deployment. Even private security agencies were not eligible for recruitment. “The recruitment of former Army personnel will boost security in many ways.
They will be trained to deal with different kinds of security situations. They can bring in their valuable experience to share with other security personnel from non-Army background,” an official said.
The recruited personnel will be deployed in areas hit by Left Wing Extremism (LWE), the official said.