During the week following the six explosions that killed 186 people and one bomber, Western Railways went into swift action installing close circuit television (CCTV) cameras at seven of its 28 suburban railway stations. But a year on, the proposal to install 530 CCTV cameras across the entire suburban network is far from being implemented.

Under pressure to show results before the incident’s first anniversary this Wednesday, the Railways is scrambling to take the 530 CCTVs on rent. This follows a late realisation that it is much easier to hire the devices than get the Rs 45 crore proposal through the circuitous corridors of Rail Bhavan.

“We will buy the CCTV cameras in due time. But for the time being, we are going to procure them on rent. Around Rs 7-9 crores would be paid as annual rent,” said Lalit Kumar, Railway Protection Force’s chief security commissioner for Western Railways.

As it turns out, even the cameras fitted immediately after the blasts were taken on rent.

Meanwhile, nothing much has changed for security on Mumbai’s suburban railway network since the deadly July 11. Despite claims of fast-tracking procurement of security-related equipment, many proposal cleared by the Western Railways are still idling at Rail Bhavan:

• A plan to buy nine X-ray baggage inspection machines, including four for Mumbai, is still just a plan. The reason: any procurement related to machinery has to be included in the Board’s Machinery and Plant (M&P) Programme, which is generally approved in January each year in the run-up to the Rail Budget. “Though this proposal has been included in the M&P programme, it would be cleared only next January,” said an official.

• A similar proposal to procure 11 explosive vapour detectors, including five for Mumbai, is still awaiting clearance from the Accounts Department. Even if it gets the nod there, the proposal would have to wait till January when the M&P programme gets approved.

• Buying 392 hand-held metal detectors, including 66 for Mumbai, and 132 doorframe metal detectors, including about 60 for Mumbai, is said to be “under process”.

An official in the Western Railways said the Railway Board recently sanctioned a Rs 5-crore proposal for forming six bomb detection and disposal squads, one of them for Mumbai. The pressure to have something to show on the security front drove the sanction, he said. But the personnel are still not on the ground.

Getting sniffer dogs is also a labour. Trying to avoid the lengthy procedure, Western Railways has now decided to get 12 dogs from private agencies through a tender.

Getting more security staff to man the posts is proving to be even tougher. The Railway Board has not responded to a Western Railways proposal to create 4,000 Railway Protection Force posts, of which 1,100 will go to the Mumbai network, said Kumar.

Unwilling to give the exact figures for the current RPF deployment at the suburban stations, a top RPF official in Rail Bhavan said not much has changed in terms of the overall numbers deployed there since the force is already short of manpower.

Western Railways chief public relations officer, Pranay Prabhakar, told The Indian Express: “Various proposal are at different stages and all the security-related issues will be taken care of.”