Less than 10% of 7,349 railway stations have CCTV cameras: Piyush Goyal in Parliament

Union Minister Piyush Goyal speaks in the Lok Sabha during the Budget Session of Parliament. (PTI) — Union Minister Piyush Goyal speaks in the Lok Sabha during the Budget Session of Parliament. **(PTI)**

2 min read . Updated: 25 Mar 2021, 06:58 AM IST Staff Writer

CCTV cameras have been provided at 686 stations, Goyal said while replying to a query in the Lok Sabha

The railways has installed closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras at 686 stations across India, Union Minister Piyush Goyal informed Parliament on Wednesday, indicating that it has such coverage in less than 10% of the 7,349 railway stations in India.

Replying to a query in the Lok Sabha, Goyal said that online monitoring through CCTV cameras is done at passenger reservation centre as well as other areas of major railway stations.

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"Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras have been provided at 686 stations," the Minister of Railways said.

"If any unlawful/suspicious activity is observed, immediate action is taken. Presently, prevention of entry of persons is not done by using CCTV monitoring. However, surveillance on persons indulging in suspicious/objectionable activities is maintained and intervention is made as and when the need arises," he said.

Of the 686 stations, 156 are in Maharashtra, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 69 stations, West Bengal with 67 stations and Bihar 47 stations.

While Rajasthan has CCTV cameras at 31 stations, Tamil Nadu has the facility at 35 stations. The states in the northeast, except Tripura and Nagaland which have one station each with cameras, and Puducherry have no stations with CCTV cameras, he said.

While Karnataka has CCTV cameras at 30 stations, 21 stations in Kerala have that facility and 29 stations in Madhya Pradesh have such cameras. Jammu and Kashmir has such cameras at 19 stations, Odisha 16, Haryana 13 and Jharkhand 11. Delhi has such cameras at 13 stations, Chhattisgarh 13 and Gujarat at 30 stations.

Meanwhile, the Railways suffered a loss of ₹38,017 crore in the passenger segment in the last fiscal due to the coronavirus crisis, but some of what it lost was compensated by the goodwill it earned by running Shramik Special trains, ferrying essentials and through innovation in freight movement which helped surpass last years' revenues.