The Central Railway clarified on Friday that the Railway Board has not issued any instruction to replace the automatic rifles carried by Railway Protection Force (RPF) escorting teams with pistols, following the recent train shooting incident. During a press conference about the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, Naresh Lalwani, the CR general manager, emphasized that no such communication had been received. He also affirmed that he hadn’t given any directive to the RPF for the substitution of rifles with pistols.
In response to the incident where RPF constable Chetan Singh shot Assistant Sub-Inspector Tikaram Meena and three passengers on the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express, the Railway Board established a high-level committee to investigate the matter. The decision to equip RPF personnel with automatic rifles was made in 2008 after the Mumbai terror attack on 26/11. Reports in a section of the media suggested the proposal to switch from rifles to pistols emerged after the July 31 incident.
Discussing the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, Lalwani shared that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to lay the foundation stones for enhancement projects at railway stations nationwide, including three in Mumbai, on August 6. The scheme aims to upgrade or modernize 76 railway stations of the Central Railway, with foundation stones being laid at 38 stations. Upgrades encompass improved facilities such as access points, waiting areas, restrooms, lifts/escalators as needed, cleanliness, free Wi-Fi, enhanced passenger information systems, executive lounges, and landscaping.
Additionally, the scheme envisions building improvement, integration of the station with both sides of the city, multimodal integration, provisions for Divyang individuals, sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions, ballast-less tracks, ‘Roof Plazas’ as required, and the creation of city centres at stations in the long run.
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