Thane Railway Station Security Under Threat As 34 CCTV Cameras Out Of 170 Non-Functional

Mumbai: Passengers’ security at Thane railway station has gone for a toss since 34 CCTV cameras out of a total 170 installed in and around station premises, are not working for the past one week. According to sources in the railway police, this has made it difficult for the officials to get the footage of any reported incident, accident or mishap.

There are 170 cameras in Thane railway station of which 34 are either switched-off or not in working condition. Since a lot of construction activities and repairs are going on around the station premises and according to sources, many CCTV cameras have been removed instead of being installed elsewhere. At some places, the cameras have been non-functional for several weeks due to mechanical failure.

While cameras have been installed by the police and municipal authorities in the area outside railway station, they don’t cover the entire station area thereby creating security risk as the railway police officials are not able to get the footage of any untoward incident reported.

According to sources, the railway police had demanded 50 more cameras to be installed in the station premises about one-and-half-year-ago, but the railway administration approved only 19 cameras, and even those are yet to be installed.

Millions of passengers travel through Thane station every day while many long- distance trains pass through this station every day along with suburban trains. Due to this, Thane station is always crowded with people, particularly during morning and evening hours.

Some anti-social elements take advantage of this and to prey on the valuables of passengers. Apart from accidents, incidents such as clashes between passengers, beating of ticket inspectors, misbehavior with women etc. are often reported from the area.