Recreation during vacation: children hurl stones on running trains

 RPF undertakes awareness programme called ‘Operation Dosti’

A series of incidents of stone-pelting on trains reported in and around Renigunta junction initially raised hackles in the Railway Protection Force (RPF), but it later turned out to be the handiwork of children seeking ‘timepass’ during the annual vacations.

RPF personnel, who did not miss the strikingly-conspicuous pattern when the window panes of two passing trains were damaged, heaved a sigh of relief on reportedly finding innocent children as the suspects. It was then that the department got down to conduct an awareness drive called ‘Operation Dosti’ in the colonies abutting the railway tracks, where children were found to be gathering in large numbers, especially due to the annual school holidays.

The team led by M. Sandeep Kumar, RPF Inspector, Renigunta, along with Assistant Sub Inspector K.M. Rudresh and others visited Sangareddipally, Chenchu Laxmi Colony, Padmavathipuram and other outer areas towards the Chennai route to educate the residents about the goings-on.

“Our prime job is to educate the children on the ill-effects of their casual activity in the form of damage caused to trains as well as injuries to passengers. We are also targeting the adults, who are mostly ignorant of such incidents happening in their backyard, on the legal implications of such acts under the sections of Railway Act”, Mr. Kumar said.

The unsuspecting parents, most of them migrant workers, were shocked to know about the two instances reported in the Kondlagunta-Gudur and Renigunta-Mamanduru sections, and agreed to rein in their children.