Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique has said that Pakistan Railways (PR) is planning to impart anti-terrorist training to railways police to prevent terrorist attacks.
While talking to media, he said that no anti-terrorist training has been given to railways polices despite increased security threats prevailing in the country.
Elaborating further he said that in the first phase PR will nominate 100 police personnel for the training. He added that Pakistan Railways was in a bad condition and running at a loss of Rs 32 billion. “We have managed to reduce this loss by Rs 0.7 million per month,” he said.
The minister said that despite financial constraints, motorcycles have been distributed among the police and patrolling on railway tracks has been revived. He informed that satellite gadgets would also be acquired with the help of the Ministry of Information Technology along with CCTV and multiple scanning machines. “Currently there is only one scanning machine, available at Lahore Station and that too is out of order. We have planned to equip railways with modern technology,” he added. Discussing about security arrangements he said that bomb disposal squads and sniffer dogs were arranged to ensure security of station premises and train bogeys.
In response to a question, the minister said that 600 constables would be recruited in railways police for which special permission would be sought from the federal government. He also said that compensation amount has been increased from Rs 0.5 million to Rs 200, 000 for the family of the deceased and Rs 100,000 for injured passengers