MARGAO
The Railways have roped in armed Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel, reportedly from Bihar, to keep anti-track-doubling agitators at bay.
No sooner, a platoon of the RPF descended in Goa on Wednesday noon, it was immediately deployed along the Davorlim and Sao Jose de Areal tracks to provide protection for the railway personnel to carry out the ongoing works.
A senior railway official told The Goan that the RPF platoon has been made available by the Hubballi division of South Western Railway to provide security along the railway tracks along the sections which had seen incidents in recent times.
When asked whether the RPF had been requisitioned from Bihar, the Railway official said the platoon has been made available by the Hubballi division of RPF, adding “the division may have requisitioned the personnel from Bihar or Odisha as per the requirements.”
Sources said the requisitioning and deployment of the Armed RPF personnel along the railway tracks instead of Goa police personnel is a clear indication that the government has no plan to go slow on the ongoing double-tracking works or keep the project on hold.
Even Goa Police officials welcomed the requisitioning and deployment of armed RPF from Bihar. In fact, DySP Kiran Podwal was overheard saying at Davorlim on Wednesday morning that the police from Bihar will know how to deal with the people agitating against the double-tracking project.
DySP Podwal had told the Railway officials at Davorlim that they may stop the double-tracking work for some time before the Bihar RPF personnel are deployed for law and order duties.
