MoS Railways dubs RPF as 'toothless', demands more power for it

Dubbing the RPF as a "toothless" organisation, Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha on Wednesday strongly pitched for more powers for it even as his senior ministerial colleague Piyush Goyal played down his concerns, asserting that regardless of a law they should move on with their work.

Goyal also said an amendment to the existing Railways Act was only a "technicality", and urged the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Government Railway Police (GRP) to work together to secure railways and passengers.

Speaking at a conference on security of railways, both Sinha and RPF Director General Arun Kumar pushed for handing over the registration, enquiry and detection of passenger-related crimes on board running trains to the force.

Currently, even if a crime is detected by the RPF, the case has to be handed over to the GRP for further enquiry.

"RPF is a toothless organisation. It is involved in security, but has no powers. Despite ability and efforts, the RPF has not got the powers .