Bengaluru: KSR station in a mess after Access Control System comes to a standstill

BENGALURU: The Access Control System was launched at Krantivira Sangolli Rayanna (Benglauru City) railway station as an added layer of security at this busy station to keep tab on every vehicle entering and departing the station. Initially launched on January 26 last year, it was stopped due to COVID a few months later and re-launched on August 1 this year.

However, it is a shambles and is erratic in its operations though the contractor in-charge claims it is not working for just four days. What is worse is that in violation of railway rules, the contracted agency has sub-contracted it to another party, allege multiple individuals familiar with the situation here.

Rakshak Securitas Pvt Ltd had been awarded a 3-year-contract by the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Limited to run the operations of the Access Control System at the main entry and the parking lots at the station 24x7 from August.

General Manager (South Region), Prashant Kumar Singh, told TNIE,“The system stopped working only from October 17. A car hit the boom barrier gate around 12 noon and broke it. The sensor attached to it, linked with our systems, got damaged and hence we could not issue tokens to anybody.” He claimed, “It has stopped working only for the last four days and will be restored on Thursday afternoon.”

Under the contract, the agency needs to pay the Railways Rs 2 crore and 40 lakh annually inclusive of GST and it has already made its first payment, Singh added.

Interactions with those in the station and railway sources present a different picture. “Unlike Parking, there is not much money to be made in Access Control and so the agency cut staff salaries. They experienced attrition after reducing the salaries from Rs 18,000 for a 12-hour shift to around Rs 14,000. Unable to manage it, they sub-contracted it to another party from October 1 who pays Rs 550 per day for a staffer,” said a source. “Though the parking lot is functional, the Access System has not worked for two weeks.” the source added.

Two other sources confirmed it. “The sub-contract has been made to one Chandrashekhar, someone known to the contractor. This is a violation of the Railway contract,” said another reliable source. When this reporter visited the parking lot, Chandrashekhar was around.

In a nutshell, this is how the Access System works:

As one enters the main entry of the station, a boom gate bars entry. An individual with a handheld device notes down the vehicle number and issues a token. One needs to produce this chit at a similar boom barrier gate at the exit. If the vehicle was inside the station just for 7 minutes, no charges are levied. One needs to pay pre-fixed rates of Rs 15 for every additional five minutes for two-wheelers and Rs 25 for four-wheelers. The Parking lots are meant for vehicles which want to wait for a longer duration.