Thane: The Central Railway has planned to install an additional 200 CCTV cameras at Thane railway station, which sees a footfall of over six lakh daily.
This move came in the wake of commuters raising concerns over stone pelting incidents and a recent assault of a commuter by hawkers.
“The station has around 150 CCTV cameras at present and there is a plan to install 200 more by 2023,” an official of the Central Railway said.
“Each and every corner of the station should be covered by CCTV cameras. This is the only way to curb crimes,” Anuj Mishra, 39, a commuter, said.
Apart from CCTV cameras, there is a demand for increasing security personnel at the station.
Lata Argade, secretary, Suburban Railway Passenger Association, said, “Whenever we ask for deploying additional personnel, officials cite a shortage of manpower.”
Rajnish Singh, senior inspector, Thane RPF, said, “We have plans to hire additional personnel from third parties for the required demand, especially during the peak hours.”
On Friday, Thane MP Rajan Vichare had met the top officials of the CR to discuss the issues faced by the commuters. “There are only 70 security personnel in Thane RPF, which needs to be increased. There should be a dedicated centre for receiving complaints from the commuters.”
“We have also demanded 24X7 surveillance by the RPF on hawkers. A nodal officer should be appointed by the civic body to take care of such incidents,” the MP added.
The commuters have also demanded better Air-Conditioned (AC) toilets at the station. They complained that the ACs of the toilets are not operational.
In October, the Government Railway Police had arrested two persons, a hawker and an ambulance driver, for allegedly slapping a woman commuter after she asked them to move their stall from the foot over bridge as it leads to obstruction of commuters’ movement.
