The underground Metro stations were found to be most vulnerable during a security audit conducted by the Delhi Government’s transport department. It was also found during the inspection that the security needs to be beefed up at the entry points of Metro stations since commuters can enter stations without getting their luggage scanned. Threats loom large over the access points to the Metro stations and the unpaid area of the stations as there are no provisions to secure these areas.
The transport department had constituted eight teams to carry out a security audit of the operational Metro stations. Officials said that they had also sought consultation from other departments such as Delhi Police to inspect the Metro stations. “In most of the underground Metro stations, there was hardly any security found between the entry point from the ground level to the ticketing area. In some cases, security was found to be lax in the underground corridors where chances of security breach are high,” noted the findings of the audit.
The security inspection has also observed that there is a paucity of CISF personnel at Metro premises. The findings note that the watching points outside some of the Metro stations were without armed securitymen. The DMRC has said that the augmentation of manpower for security arrangements is being handled by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). At the moment, there are 4,653 CISF personnel deployed at the Metro circuits, out of which 2,850 are armed security personnel.
The audit has also pointed out that there is a menace of drug addicts around the Metro stations and police authorities may be requested to curb this menace. To deal with the issue of drug addicts, DMRC claims to have taken up the issue with the Delhi Police CISF internal team to sensitise the areas.