Town stn to get 54 CCTV cameras

KOCHI: Ernakulam Town, one of the busiest railway stations in the state, will be equipped with 54 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras on its premises in three months.
Though a facility utilized by over 42,000 people on any given day, the Town station did not have technology-based security surveillance.
Once installed, the CCTV surveillance system will be monitored 24/7 by a trained team of railway protection force (RPF).
"It has been informed that the proposal to install CCTV cameras on the station premises is finalized. Since the station has a plenty of major and minor entry and exit points, it is very difficult to ensure safety at present," said a railway official.
RPF and Kerala railway police officials said that many cases of theft and snatching were taking place on the station premises.
"Some cases are cracked, while majority of them are pending. Ernakulam Junction railway station has CCTV cameras, majority in working condition. At the same time, the Town station doesn't have any security features," said an RPF source.
Compared to Ernakulam Junction, the total number of police personnel deployed is less in Ernakulam Town.
Apart from CCTV cameras, Ernakulam Junction has security features such as x-ray baggage scanner, door metal-frame detectors (DMFDs), hand-held metal detectors and dog squad, while the Town station has none.
Police said that the presence of security equipment itself would curb the law and order issues. "There are habitual offenders who come from distant places to Ernakulam for smuggling, robbery, snatching and even for criminal activities. Since Ernakulam Junction has CCTV cameras, all these anti-socials who come to Ernakulam are alighting or boarding trains from Ernakulam Town railway station. The cocaine case was a classical example, where the accused travelled from Ernakulam Town," the official said.
Currently, there is only one CCTV camera installed in the entire vicinity, and that is in front of the prepaid autorickshaw counter by the Kochi city police.
Around seven security staff are on duty at a time at Ernakulam Town, making it practically impossible to cover the entire area, including platforms, entry points, reservation counter, parcel counter, waiting rooms, restaurants, parking lots and platform endpoints.