Lok Sabha Question No. 632 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-20
Subject: Damages to Railway Property
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Vijayakumar (alias) Vijay Vasanth, Hibi Eden, Rattan Lal Kataria, Su Thirunavukkarasar, Suresh Kodikunnil, Manne Srinivas Reddy, Komati Reddy Venkat Reddy, Andimuthu Raja

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 632 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20.07.2022

## DAMAGES TO RAILWAY PROPERTY

## 632.  SHRI VIJAYAKUMAR (ALIAS) VIJAY VASANTH:

SHRI HIBI EDEN:

SHRI RATTAN LAL KATARIA:

SHRI THIRUNAVUKKARASAR SU:

SHRI KODIKUNNIL SURESH:

SHRI MANNE SRINIVAS REDDY:

SHRI KOMATI REDDY VENKAT REDDY:

SHRI A. RAJA:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Railways  has  incurred  huge  losses  on  account  of  the destruction  of  its  property,  burning  of  trains  and  disruption  of  rail services on account of public disorder consequent to the launching of Agneepath Scheme in the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the losses incurred to the Indian Railways  due  to  various  other  causes  during  the  last  three  years, year-wise;
- (c) the number of people arrested during the protest/died/injured/ compensation paid to the victims and their families; zone/station/division-wise;
- (d) whether the Government has formulated or is working in the direction of  formulating  any  concrete  policy  to  check  the  damage  of  railway property on account of the said protest, if so, the details thereof;
- (e) the  number  of  cases  that  have  been  registered  on  account  of destruction of railway property and the recoveries made so far, yearwise;

- (f) the  States  that  have  witnessed  maximum  destruction  of  railway property and disruption of services on account of poor law and order situation;
- (g) whether the Ministry has formulated any concrete policy to compensate the loss of property; and
- (h) if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  steps  taken  by  the  Railways  to counter these unforeseen challenges ?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a) to (h): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (h)  OF  UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO.  632  BY  SHRI  VIJAYAKUMAR  (ALIAS)  VIJAY  VASANTH,  SHRI HIBI  EDEN,  SHRI  RATTAN  LAL  KATARIA,  SHRI  THIRUNAVUKKARASAR  SU, SHRI  KODIKUNNIL  SURESH,  SHRI  MANNE  SRINIVAS  REDDY,  SHRI  KOMATI REDDY VENKAT REDDY AND SHRI A. RAJA TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 20.07.2022 REGARDING DAMAGES TO RAILWAY PROPERTY (a)  to  (d):  'Police'  and  'Public  Order'  are  State  subjects  under  the  Seventh Schedule  to  the  Constitution  of  India  and,  therefore,  State  Governments  are responsible  for  prevention,  detection,  registration  and  investigation  of  crime and maintenance of law and order on Railways through their law enforcement agencies viz. Government Railway Police (GRP)/District Police. Railway Protection  Force  (RPF)  supplements  the  efforts  of  GRP/District  Police  to provide better protection and security to railway property, passenger area and passengers and for matters connected therewith. Cases of damage, destruction  of  government  property  including  railway  property  are  registered and investigated by the concerned GRP/State Police under IPC & Railways Act. In  the  year  2022,  Indian  Railways  suffered  loss  of ₹ 259.44  Crores  due  to damage/destruction  of  railway  assets.  Separate  data  regarding  amount  of refund granted to passengers due to disruption of rail services on account of public  disorder  consequent  to  agitation  like  those  held  after  launching  of Agneepath scheme is not maintained.  However, during the period 14.06.2022 to  30.06.22,  a  total  refund  of  approximately ₹ 102.96  Crores  was  granted  on account of cancellation of trains. During  the  last  3  years  i.e.2019,  2020  and  2021,  the  losses  incurred  to  the Indian  Railways  due  to  other  agitation  are ₹ 151  cr., ₹ 904  cr.  and ₹ 62  cr. respectively. The  zone-wise  details  of  the  number  of  people  arrested/died/injured  during agitations  against  launching  of  Agneepath  Scheme,  is  appended.      No compensation  has  been  paid  to  the  passengers  and  their  families  who died/injured during this protest.

Regular coordination  is maintained by RPF  with the  State Police/Government Railway Police (GRP) authorities at all levels for prevention of crime, registration  of  cases,  their  investigation  and  maintenance  of  law  &  order  in Railway premises as well as in running trains.  In order to check the damage of railway  property  on  account  of  protests  against  launching  of  Agneepath Scheme, senior officers of RPF were rushed to vulnerable locations from other non sensitive offices/formations to actively respond to the need arising out of the situation. 8 coys of RPSF and 10 coys of CAPFs were deployed in disturbed areas  to  restore  order  during  the  agneepath  agitation.  In  all  incidents  of damage/destruction,  cases  have  been  registered  and  offenders  are  being identified,  followed  with  their  arrest.  Inquiry  into  these  cases  is  closely monitored  by  Senior  Officers.  Besides  cases  registered  by  State  Police/GRP, Criminal  Cases  under  relevant  provision  of  law  have  also  been  registered  by RPF. Close coordination is being made and coordinated efforts are being taken to identify and apprehend the offenders using modern technology. Preparedness  to  tackle  such  situation  is  also  reviewed  associating  MHA, CAPFs  and  State  Police.  Social  Media  platforms  through  which  perpetrators were  encouraged/  incited  to  participate  in  violence  were  identified  and disrupted. Cyber cells were tasked to identify the whatsapp group and to track the social media platforms to gather movements of perpetrators so that their activities and movements could be monitored.

(e) to (h) : During the year 2019, 2020 & 2021, the number of cases registered on account of destruction of railway property are 95, 30 and 34 respectively. No recoveries to compensate the loss occurred to railways have been made so far.

The  States  of  Bihar  and  Telengana  have  witnessed  maximum  destruction  of railway property due to law and order situation during the current year i.e. 2022 (upto June).

Considering  the  report  of  High  Level  Safety  Review  Committee  (Kakodkar Committee), guidelines have been issued to Zonal Railways for filing compensation claim cases in court of law in cases of disruption and vandalism suffered by Railways during agitations, rail roko, bandh etc.

Following  measures  are  being  taken  by  the  Railways  in  coordination  with GRP/District Police to check the damage of railway property during agitations:-

1. Deployment of Police/GRP & RPF personnel at vulnerable places with riot gears and Arms & Ammunition.
2. Smooth  coordination  with  GRP  &  State  Police  is  ensured  to  plan  joint action in such cases.
3. Collection and sharing of Intelligence inputs with all intelligence agencies.
4. Cyber  patrolling  and  collection  of  technical  intelligence  through  modern technological  tools being  done  to  collect inputs on  these  types  of activities.
5. Installation of CCTV cameras at vulnerable places to get an alert about the situation and the feed is monitored for the purpose of investigation/enquiry.
6. Special training is imparted to RPF personnel to deal with riots/ unlawful assemblies by imparting mob control drills to respond to such eventualities effectively.
7. Regular  co-ordination  meetings  are  conducted  with  GRP/Civil  Police  to discuss  the  preparedness  in  case  of  such  situation  for  collecting  and sharing of criminal intelligence.

*****

APPENDIX  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (d)  OF  UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO.  632  BY  SHRI  VIJAYAKUMAR  (ALIAS)  VIJAY  VASANTH,  SHRI HIBI  EDEN,  SHRI  RATTAN  LAL  KATARIA,  SHRI  THIRUNAVUKKARASAR  SU, SHRI  KODIKUNNIL  SURESH,  SHRI  MANNE  SRINIVAS  REDDY,  SHRI  KOMATI REDDY VENKAT REDDY AND SHRI A. RAJA TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 20.07.2022 REGARDING DAMAGE TO RAILWAY PROPERTY

(a) to (d): The zone-wise details of the number of people arrested/died/injured due to agitations against launching of Agneepath Scheme:-

| Zonal Railway      |   No. of persons arrested for agitations against Agneepath Scheme |   No. of persons died during agitations against Agneepath Scheme |   No. of persons injured during agitations against Agneepath Scheme |
|--------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Central            |                                                                10 |                                                                0 |                                                                   0 |
| Eastern            |                                                                56 |                                                                0 |                                                                   0 |
| East Central       |                                                               700 |                                                                1 |                                                                  14 |
| Northern           |                                                               100 |                                                                0 |                                                                   0 |
| North Central      |                                                               102 |                                                                0 |                                                                   0 |
| North Eastern      |                                                               298 |                                                                0 |                                                                   0 |
| Northeast Frontier |                                                                14 |                                                                0 |                                                                   0 |
| North Western      |                                                                11 |                                                                0 |                                                                   0 |
| Southern           |                                                              1051 |                                                                0 |                                                                   0 |
| South Central      |                                                               244 |                                                                1 |                                                                  21 |
| Western            |                                                                43 |                                                                0 |                                                                   0 |
| West Central       |                                                                13 |                                                                0 |                                                                   0 |

****