The Sealdah Division of Eastern Railway is preparing to deploy 270 ex-servicemen and around 1,200 additional Railway Protection Force personnel during Durga Puja to manage a sharp rise in passenger numbers across its stations. The ex-servicemen are expected to join duty by Panchami and will be engaged for 90 days.
The additional personnel will work alongside the regular Railway Protection Force and railway security teams at platforms, level-crossing gates and other locations under the division’s jurisdiction. The recruitment process is being handled by the division’s security wing, which is considering former servicemen aged 55 years or below.
An official source said the selected candidates would undergo document verification and medical screening before joining duty. “Keeping the festive season in mind, we are hiring 270 ex-servicemen for 90 days,” the official said. The division has approached the Sainik Kalyan Board to support the recruitment process.
The planned intake is higher than last year’s deployment. The Sealdah Division hired around 208 ex-servicemen with the board’s assistance during the previous Puja season. The increase has been linked by railway authorities to the expectation of a higher passenger count this year.
The security expansion follows the exceptional crowd pressure recorded at Sealdah Station last year. The station registered a footfall of 21 lakh passengers in a single day on Saptami, according to the report. The scale of that movement has prompted the division to prepare a contingency plan for sudden crowd surges at Sealdah and other stations.
Around 1,200 additional RPF personnel will be deployed at various locations specifically for the Puja season. The division has received one company of RPF personnel and is expected to receive the remaining personnel shortly, the official said.
The contingency plan includes monitoring live CCTV feeds from more than 100 stations at a control room in Sealdah Station. If crowd levels rise sharply at any station, RPF personnel will guide passengers away from platforms towards a holding area created in the existing parking lot. Security teams will also regulate passenger movement at entry and exit points.
The arrangements are intended to address the operational pressure created when large numbers of passengers converge on suburban railway stations within a short period. The deployment across platforms, gates, entry points and holding areas places crowd control alongside routine security as a central requirement during the Puja travel period.
The division’s stated next steps are to complete recruitment, conduct document and medical checks, deploy the ex-servicemen by Panchami and bring the additional RPF personnel into position before the main festive rush.
