On Wednesday, the Government Railway Police (GRP) strengthened the safety of the railway bridge near the Satluj River and Jagraon Bridge on the occasion of Chhath Puja.

The GRP Ludhiana special team led by senior police such as DSP Balram Rana and Inspector Jaskaran Singh was sent to the railway line near Satluj, Gill Road Bridge and Jagraon Bridge, where many people gathered to celebrate the festival.

"During Chhath, patrolling on the railway tracks near Satluj became very important because devotees tended to gather on the banks of the river or other waterways near the railway line to pray. To avoid any railway accidents, the GRP team was deployed ," Inspector Singh said.

In the past week, in view of the influx of immigrants returning home for Diwali and the influx of Chhath Puja, RPF and the railway staff at Ludhiana Railway Station launched special inspections. In addition, officials of the Ferozpur department inspected the trains carrying migrants and recovered more than 4 million rupees from passengers who did not have tickets.

Although the Northern Railway Company runs many special holiday trains, many people have trouble getting reserved tickets without regular passenger trains.

A white elephant at the luggage scanner at rly station

The individual baggage scanner at Ludhiana train station is one of the busiest train stations in the state, with three main entrances, which is not very helpful to the security forces. People have seen people entering the train station without checking their luggage through the scanner.

The scanner's duty officer said that the machine sometimes fails to run due to overheating.

A senior railway official said that the proposal to replace the scanner has been submitted to the higher authorities.

Get our daily news capsule

Free access to newsletters, alerts and advice