The Western Railway is learning its lessons the hard way, for the Elphinstone Road incident was like a slap on its face. But, better late than never, it has come up with an INR 123 crore plan of installing Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras inside all suburban local trains. Not only this, women’s compartments will be equipped with a talk-back system as well.
A tentative cost of installing eight CCTVs in each compartment in a 12 coach local train is rounded off to INR One crore. In an interview with Hindustan Times, a senior official said, “We have been given a target of 15 months, by which the project must be completed”. He also added that the train guard could monitor the CCTV.
A talk-back system in the women’s compartments is estimated to cost around INR 12 lakh each. This system will enable the women commuters to speak to the guard in case of emergencies. “There have been many recent incidents of crime against women in these compartments that have forced the authorities to take this step,” said the official.
After a series of meetings conducted by Piyush Goyal, the Union railway minister, following the Elphinstone incident, the WR authorities came to a decision of setting up the equipment. A proposal for the plan has been sent to the policy-making body of Indian Railways, Railway Board and the approval is awaited.
The WR has a sprawling network, comprising of over a 100 trains. A total of 35 lakh commuters travel in these trains and their safety is not something to be compromised at any cost. More security measures like these are needed for the Central Line as well. Only then Mumbai can be called as a safe city to live in, in every sense of the word.
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