Hit by enormous losses as a consequence of mob fury throughout current agitations, the railways has approached Meerut-based Rapid Action Force (RAF) Academy for Public Order (RAPO) to coach the Railway Protection Force in crowd management, public order administration and mob psychology.
This is the primary time the Railway Protection Force (RPF), which is liable for defending railway property, might be educated to manage mobs — a job officers say has fallen on the pressure which has needed to take care of massive protesting crowds on a number of events during the last yr.
The coaching for the primary batch of 182 personnel started on the academy on Monday, officers mentioned.
“At RAPO, we have trained state police and BSF jawans deployed for United Nations mission, and we train personnel after we receive request from their organisations. We received a request from the railways and have started training their men. We primarily focus on training personnel on how to maintain public order and the use of non-lethal weapons. We discuss global and domestic case studies and also analyse mob psychology,” a senior official of the institute mentioned.
At the institute, focus is given on how one can handle a mob in railway premises and stop injury, he mentioned.
In current years, the nationwide transporter has suffered enormous losses through the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests, farmers protests, protests by college students in opposition to anomalies in railway recruitment board exams. Barely a month in the past, trains have been set on fireplace in protest in opposition to the Centre’s Agnipath scheme.
During the schedule of the course, the personnel might be educated in crowd management, public order administration, mob psychology, police vs public behaviour, communal concord, fireplace preventing tools, new age weapons, particular autos like Vajra, Varun and fireplace tender, riot management drill, human rights, use of much less deadly weapons, tools, ammunitions and new developments in public order administration.
In addition, all of the trainees will even be taken to the firing vary for giving sensible firing publicity of much less deadly weapons and munitions.
These trainees have been particularly chosen from varied zones and divisions of railways, primarily from Delhi, Lucknow, Varanasi, Tinsukia, Howrah, Hyderabad, Gorakhpur, Guwahati, Kolkata, Jaipur, Bhubaneshwar, Visakhapatanam and Mumbai.
RAPO is an institute below the Ministry of Home Affairs and is the one riot management and public order administration institute within the nation, headed by Akhilesh Kumar Singh, Deputy Inspector General of Police.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”