The move, a first by the RPF, was part of the renewed emphasis on passenger safety, especially in the light of a worrying regularity with which mobile phone thieves were striking on the suburban section.
The Railway Protection Force (RPF) unit of Western Railway took baby steps towards railway minister Suresh Prabhu's desire to have the RPF as a federal railway police agency by taking on crime-solving duties that have generally been a preserve of the Indian Penal Code-armed railway police.
Between September 1 and 30, the RPF unit at WR returned around Rs2.5 lakh worth of articles stolen by thieves from railway passengers. During the month it handed over 35 crooks to the railway police for penal action, among them were 12 mobile thieves, 14 pickpockets, 2 laptop thieves and one chain snatcher. Generally, all such crimes like theft, robbery, chain snatching are looked into by the railway police.
The move, a first by the RPF, was part of the renewed emphasis on passenger safety, especially in the light of a worrying regularity with which mobile phone thieves were striking on the suburban section.
"Passenger safety is foremost and it doesn't matter which force is doing the policing as long as the normal commuter is safe while travelling on the railways. That is the idea," said a senior RPF officer.
The RPF's move — taking up duties as a full-blooded police force rather than an armed security appendage of the railway ministry — is being seen as a 'slow and steady' move towards what might finally see the RPF become the sole policing agency on the railways, replacing the three-tier security set-up now that involves the state-run railway and district police and the railway ministry-controlled paramilitary RPF.
In November last year, Prabhu had written a letter to various chief ministers, including Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, asking for their opinion on withdrawal of the railway police and the set-up of a two-tier system comprising the RPF and the district police. In February, Prabhu sent a reminder letter to Fadnavis. Earlier in January, Prabhu had chaired a seminar on 'seamless' policing on the railways with Union home minister Rajnath Singh as chief guest.
Currently, the railway system is such that all matters related to the Indian Penal Code is dealt by the railway police of the respective states through which the line passes while a host of subjects, mainly dealing with railway property and railway premises, are looked into by the RPF under the Railway Act and RPF Act.
dna's mails to the railway ministry, including Prabhu, as well as cellphone messages to CM Fadnavis on their opinions on having RPF as the prime policing agency of the railways, elicited no response.
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