Ahead of Brahmotsavams, security beefed up at Tirupati station

Tirupati: Ahead of the annual Brahmotsavams of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala, the security at Tirupati railway station has been beefed up.

As the station may witness heavy pilgrim influx during the Brahmotsavams, Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) sleuths have geared up to provide tight security at the station and for onboard passengers.

RPF CI K Madhusudan told The Hans India that a control room, information centre and help desks have been set up at the station to keep a vigil on the security aspects and to help the passengers who are in need.

Special teams will keep a vigil at the station premises round-the-clock. The staff at the control room will monitor the CC cameras all the time and will keep a vigil on the suspicious persons and elements with the help of RPF officials to prevent any untoward incident from happening.

To monitor the security arrangements, Guntakal Railway police superintendent K Chowdeswari held a review meeting with both GRP and RPF personnel at Tirupati station on Saturday and took stock of the situation. She directed all the staff to work in coordination with officials of other departments and discharge their duties with dedication.

The RPF CI said that for this year’s Brahmotsavams, two inspectors, eight SIs and about 100 staff from GRP have been deployed. From the RPF side, one inspector, seven SI /ASI and 30 staff along with sniffer dog squads and bomb disposal teams will engage in security duties. Both RPF and GRP along with local police will man the access control and frisking the passengers.

He said that people may dial railway toll free number 139 or police toll free number 100 to give any information on suspicious persons or items.

DSRP Shanu, Tirupati GRP inspector K Hemasundar Rao, Renigunta GRP inspector Devendar Kumar and others were present at the meeting.