Finally, bus depots to get metal detectors

MSRTC clears the proposal to install metal detectors at depots in the city one and a half years after the German Bakery blast

Finally, bus depots to get metal detectors

MSRTC clears the proposal to install metal detectors at depots in the city one and a half years after the German Bakery blast

Sitting over a proposal to install metal detectors at bus depots -- forwarded in the wake of the German Bakery blast -- for around two years, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has finally woken up to lack of security at the terminuses.

No more sitting ducks: The MSRTC will install two metal detectors
at each bus depot in the city; (inset) German Bakery after the
last in 2010. File pic

It is widely known that the prime accused of the 2010 blast, Himayat Baig, had alighted at the Shivajinagar depot before the blast, yet the MSRTC paid little heed to several frantic letters sent by the city police to beef up securityu00a0 in the terror-prone areas.

The depots at Shivajinagar, Swargate and Pune railway station were easy targets for any miscreant. Chief Security and Vigilance Officer RR Mangaonkar said, "Hand-held metal detectors (HHMD) and door-frame metal detectors (DFMD) will soon be installed at these points in the coming months."

Each depot will have one hand-held and a door-frame metal detector along with a dedicated staff to monitor their operations. A hand-held detector comes for Rs 6,000 and the door-frame one costs Rs 10,000, depending upon their make and sophistication. The proposal to put CCTV cameras at bus depots, which was sent around seven months ago, is still pending with the MSRTC headquarters in Mumbai.

A senior MSRTC official on condition of anonymity said, "The corporation is currently in a dire financial crisis. This is why we are taking time to purchase the CCTV cameras. It should ideally be approved after the metal detectors are installed."

A Delhi-based company, Depech Devices Pvt Ltd, was awarded the contract in December last year, but according to sources, some of the equipment had to be sent back as they developed technical snags while being installed at certain bus depots in Mumbai. "This delayed the overall procedure", the official added.
MiD DAY had extensively reported about the utter lack of security at the depots in its series 'Transport Travails' in January.u00a0

Mangaonkar added that the metal detectors are currently being installed and tested at the Parel and Dadar bus depots in Mumbai and Pune is scheduled next. Bus depots at Aurangabad, Nanded, Nashik and Nagpur districts are also to receive these equipment.