Questions are being raised on the effectiveness of the security cover at the metro stations in Delhi after a man managed to enter the Rajiv Chowk Metro station with a local gun and shot himself on Thursday. Around 4,000 Central Industrial Security Force personnel are deployed at 180 stations of the metro network to guard 30 lakh commuters daily.
Action is likely to be taken against some of the CISF staff, after accountability is fixed on the personnel who were behind the lapse. The officials in the security establishment have already described the incident as a major security lapse, especially in the wake of a recent warning of a possible terror strike by the Islamic State in the national capital.
“Definitely there has been a security lapse and right now we are assessing CCTV footage to ascertain the sequence of events. We are investigating how the man entered the station with a country-made gun,” a senior police official said.
However, officials with the CISF, who have been entrusted with the security of the Metro stations, said that the blame for the incident should not be put on the CISF alone. They added that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, which is responsible for providing necessary infrastructure needed for the CISF to carry out its responsibility, is also to blame.
“We have been regularly sharing the report prepared by the Intelligence Bureau with the DMRC asking them to invest more for creating infrastructure required to increase the security cover at Metro stations. However, these reports have been constantly ignored by the DMRC. The funds for creating this infrastructure are with the DMRC and not with the CISF. An incident of this nature was waiting to happen,” an official within the agency said. CISF officials said a majority of CCTV cameras installed inside the metro stations are of no use as they have not been installed strategically, leading to creation of many “dark spots” inside the stations that are not covered under these cameras. Officials also said that at any given time, at least 10 X-ray machines in various stations do not work.