ER beefs up security for Pujas

Kolkata: The Eastern Railways is leaving no stone unturned to have foolproof security arrangements at all major railways stations in the state. A large-scale mock drill was conducted at Kalyani on Saturday to assess the preparedness of the security.

"To provide a hands on working experience to the Divisional Emergency Response team and to foster coordination among national disaster response force, civil defence, other concerned departments and bodies and Railways, a large scale mock drill was conducted at Kalyani yesterday," said a senior spokesperson of Eastern Railway.

While the mock drill was conducted six days after Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed threatened bomb attacks at several railway stations, the officials were demonstrated on how to evacuate passengers during emergencies in minimum possible time.

"We had conducted the drill at Kalyani. The same will be conducted at Asansol and other major stations to assess the preparedness of the security," said a senior official of Eastern Railway.

Every year, the Eastern Railway runs Durga Puja special trains to cater the rush of passengers.

A separate underpass will be constructed to connect Sealdah railway station and Sealdah metro station. The Sealdah station observes nearly 12 lakh footfall on a normal day. However, during Durga Puja the rush of passengers goes up to 15 lakh.

This apart, the Eastern Railway has also decided to set up a food court at Sealdah railway station before Durga Puja this year.

According to sources in Eastern Railway, the food court will be set up at the Sealdah South concourse on the mezzanine floor and the ground floor will have shops. The food court sprawls over 2000 square metres.