In a ‘Gandhigiri’ gesture to curb the menace of stone pelting on trains, particularly on the aesthetically-designed Vande Bharats, the Indian Railways has started a unique initiative to reach out to the locals where the focus will be on winning their trust rather than hold out the threat of punitive action. As part of the exercise, the Railway Protection Force has started distributing chocolates and gifts to children living in slums along the tracks to deter them from throwing stones at the semi-high-speed train. More than 1,500 stone pelting cases on trains were recorded across the country in 2022 and over 400 people were arrested for the offense. "The national transporter does not believe in having acrimonious relations with the citizens who can actually be the real guards to the rail infrastructure. Hence we want to reach out to them and win their trust," said a railway official.
Incidents of stone pelting on other trains have gone largely unreported, but similar cases involving the indigenously manufactured Vande Bharat have made big news. All the existing eight Vande Bharat trains have faced damage due to stone pelting.
"Several formats of awareness drives and campaigns are being undertaken by RPF using different means to educate residents near railway tracks. Our men are going with sweets, chocolates, some valuable gifts like pen, handkerchiefs to win over the youngsters," said a Railway Ministry spokesman. The zonal railways have written to the Sarpanch of villages located en route to Vande Bharat to reach out to people and convince them that railway is their own property and they should protect it against damages.
"This kind of action has received a good response in the case of the Mumbai-Ahemdabad Vande Bharat train," said a Western Railway spokesman. To sensitise people to effective crowd management within the Indian Railways system, RPF has tied up with Rapid Action Force (RAF) Academy for Public Order (RAPO), the only institute in the country specialising in public order management (POM). The training module mainly focuses on crowd/riot control, law and order, mob psychology, gender sensitisation, and human rights.
RAPO DIG Akhilesh Kumar Singh will be needed to play a crucial role in this mission. The POM is a very dynamic and challenging domain in the current world scenario. Officers/personnel of all the security forces must have the practical knowledge and training to handle situations effectively. As of now, newly inducted IRPSF probationers of the Civil Service Examination (CSE)-2020 batch have been undergoing the POM course from January 23 to January 28, 2023, at the Meerut-based RAPO.
The RPF has also rescued more than 17,500 children from rail premises and 559 people from traffickers so far this year under Operation Nanhe Faristey while the railway saved 852 lives of passengers, who slipped while boarding trains. Under operation Matrishakti, women personnel of the RPF assisted in 209 childbirths on board trains last year, according to a RPF statement said.
