JOIN USA proposal has been submitted to the Union and State government for recruiting 900 personnel for the railway police force, said Karnataka State Railway Police Force Additional Director General of Police, Amar Kumar Pandey.
Speaking to reporters here on Tuesday, Pandey said that more personnel need to be deployed at railway stations across the country for beefing up security and curb increasing thefts. He said that more than nine lakh people travel by trains every day and the number of railway stations has increased to 500 from a mere 100, around 35 years ago.
“However, there has been no recruitment to the railway police. It has been not possible to provide adequate security due to staff shortage. Home Guards personnel are being deployed for security at railway stations,” Pandey said.
He said that there were 380 vacancies in Karnataka Railway Police . Training is being imparted to 200 police constables and they would soon be deployed for railway work.
Pandey said that criminals these days were taking to new technology and hence police personnel need to be trained in detecting such crimes. The department is also prepared to impart such training.
He said that people were under the impression that railway police and civil police discharge similar duties. But, the scope of duties of railway police is quite different, he added.