Mumbai : The Railway Board’s idea to set up free Wi-Fi facility across the A-1 railway stations in India has not gone too well with the security agencies of the railways in Mumbai.
The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has raised concern over the free wi-fi scheme at stations that is going to start soon, as commuters and others are expected to crowd the stations to use the same. RPF says this will cause security issues and also alleged that they were not consulted before setting up the wi-fi at stations.
Alok Bohra, Senior Divisional Security Commissioner of Central Railway said, “The stations in Mumbai are open with no control over the entry and the exit which might be a concern. These facilities will work better with closed stations likes Metro or Mono rail where in the commuter can enter the station only after the purchase of the ticket.”
Under the new scheme the railways intends to start wi-fi facility at the railway stations which will be free of cost for the initial 30 minutes. However, once the 30 minute period is over commuters will have to pay for using the service further.
To use this facility the commuters will have to connect to the wi-fi which will then ask for their mobile number. As soon as the commuters feed in their mobile number the system will generate a One Time Password (OTP) and send it across on the cell phones. After feeding the OTP in the system the commute will be able to use the wi-fi facility.
Explaining the project, ED Tahim, the executive director of Rail Tel Corporation which is providing the facility across India, said, “We have already started the wi-fi service at CST station on trial basis. But once the programme will be officially inaugurated, commuters will have to pay to use the facility beyond the free 30 minutes time period. The date for the inauguration needs to be decided by the railways.”
“This OTP will only be generated on those mobile phones which are registered with a proper network. This will work as a security check as only those mobile numbers which are registered will be able to use the facility,” he further added.
