CHENNAI: With Diwali round the corner, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) has decided to crack the whip on those carrying crackers on trains. Taking serious note of the dangers in transporting crackers on board trains, the authorities have decided to book the passengers commuting with explosives under stringent laws, which could land them behind in jail for three years.“The offenders would be arrested under Sections 164 (Unlawfully bringing dangerous goods on railways) and 165 (Unlawfully bringing offensive goods on a railway) of the Railways Act that has provisions for imprisonment up to three years,” S R Gandhi, Senior Divisional Security Commissioner, Chennai Division, Southern Railway, told Express. “We would conduct surprise inspections on moving trains to check the movement of crackers,” he added.As people are expected to transport crackers from the fireworks hub of Sivakasi, the security personnel are focusing more on trains originating from and bound for Madurai. Pointing out that the luggage of the passengers would be thoroughly scanned at railway stations, he said, “The baggage scanners are capable of detecting crackers. Moreover, the bomb squad and sniffer dogs of the RPF are on duty to ensure that crackers are not loaded in trains,” he said.Going an extra mile in their efforts to seek cooperation from the public, the railways has planned for a massive SMS campaign, in an attempt to create awareness on carrying explosives. According to an official, about three lakh text messages would be sent to mobile phone users, stressing that carrying explosives is a punishable offence. “Similar alert SMSs on prevention of theft and reporting on suspicious articles found in trains to the security agencies in the past yielded good results. Henceforth, we are using the short messages for our awareness programmes,” the official said. Besides, using yet another tool to reach the masses, slides would be screened in cinemas and pamphlets would be distributed to the travellers.
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