The Central Railway (CR) is upgrading its dog squad by inducting nine more dogs in service. Under the Integrated Security Plan (ISP), the CR would be buying dogs, which would be deployed at six different stations namely the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), Dadar, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT), Thane, Kalyan and Kurla.

The CR currently has 10 dogs in its squad, with seven posted in Matunga and three in Kalyan. One dog died a month ago due to illness. “As per the plan, we plan to buy nine more dogs for security purposes and these dogs would be deployed at six different stations. Each dog would cost us around Rs 10,000. These dogs would also undergo necessary training before they are introduced to the service,” said Shriniwas Mudgerikar, chief spokesperson, CR.

This will take the tally of dogs to 19, which would put less pressure on the existing dogs in the squad. “There were only 11 dogs in the squad, of which one died a month ago. These dogs were placed at Matunga and Kalyan and it was very difficult to move them from one station to another, especially during the peak hours. Due to shortage of dogs in the squad, there was added pressure on the animals during a bomb scare,” said an RPF personnel in the dog squad.  

The railway ministry had proposed an ISP for railway stations across the country. Under this plan, the railway was to give advertising rights of the entire Rail Zone to a private party for a time span and in return, the private party was supposed to provide railways with the security equipment. The plan, however, failed as it did not get any positive response.

... contd.