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‘Footdragging’ by school students alarms commuters
Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel, responsible for dealing with the problem of footboard travel, are now faced with the problem of school students, some of them as young as 13 years, hanging from moving trains and dragging their feet on the platforms, a dangerous situation for them as well as for other commuters.
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
RPF officials posted at the Chromepet and Tambaram Sanatorium railway stations claim that a group of school students returning home from school travel on footboard every evening.
According to RPF personnel posted at the Sanatorium station, this problem is especially prevalent during evening hours between 4.30 and 5 pm at a few stations. Since the trains are crowded in the mornings, the students do not try to attempt this practice on their way to school.
“Every day I can see a group of boys doing this kind of activities. While we are afraid that they may fall, the kids don’t care about anything,” said Gowtham, staff of a private company.
Regular commuters claim that many boys have fallen and injured themselves by indulging in these risky activities, but still continue to do the same. They also said that RPF personnel who are on-duty are not taking adequate steps to curb this problem.
Another regular commuter, Kalyani said, “The students are always travelling in a very risky way and on occasions after the train starts moving, they throw their school bag to their friends standing on the platform.”
When contacted, Tambaram RPF Inspector Manoj Kumar said they try not to book the students as it might affect their future. “Instead we have tried to contact respective school managements and try to spread the message through them. But, it has not had much of an impact,” he said.
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