Eight years after 26/11, wait for RPF commando centre continues

Eight years after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, which exposed the limited fighting abilities of the Railway Protection Force, the wait for a specialised commando training centre for the RPF continues to be trapped in the files. The latest plan, to build one at RPF's Chink Hill facility near Solapur, requires a little over Rs4 crore to create the all-important 'baffle' walls. These walls ensure stray bullets don't hit civilians while the force practices firing.

Baffle walls are made up of reinforced cement concrete and steel-fibre infiltrated concrete which give the structure the strength to trap bullets from pistols to assault rifles, said officials.
"The plan is to convert the Chink Hill facility into a Specialised Arms Training Centre where up to 60 RPF personnel can be trained in all kinds of firearms as part of their commando training," explained Rambhau Pawar, Deputy Chief Security Commissioner of the RPF Zonal Training Centre, which oversees the Chink Hill facility.

Messages sent to RPF director-general SK Bhagat on when the money for the baffle walls would be sanctioned or what would be the time frame for the completion of the commando training facility project elicited no response.

The need for a commando training facility was felt after the nation was subjected to painful images of helplessness of RPF personnel during the 26/11 terror raid on Mumbai in 2008. RPF constables, armed with British-vintage .303 rifles, first tried to ward off the two terrorists at CST that day. But when most of the British-vintage .303 rifles jammed, these personnel had little choice but to duck for cover from the assault rifle fire from the terrorists.

The preliminary planning for such a centre took almost two years and on December 9, 2010, the then railway minister of state KH Muniyappa told Parliament that a commando training facility for the RPF would be set up at Canning in the South Parganas district in West Bengal. A sum of Rs26.70 crore was sanctioned and railway construction firm Ircon was given the task of creating a blueprint. By 2013, the plan had to be dropped due to hassles in land acquisition, said officials.

"The RPF plans to have a total of 22 commando companies raised from its present personnel and another 12 companies from each battalion of the Railway Protection Special Force. The hallmark of any good commando unit is training day in day out and for that a training facility is essential. Currently, RPF commandos are being trained at facilities as varied as Force One in Mumbai, the Counter-Terrorism and Jungle Warfare Centre in Kanker in Chattisgarh among others. These centres have a long waiting period now," explained an official.