CCTVs set up to prevent suicides at Metro Railway

With the city's Metro Railway emerging as a suicide point with nine deaths this year, the

authorities have set up CCTVs on platforms to keep an eye on passengers behaving

erratically.

A host of screens at the railway's security control room monitor platforms on the Metro

Railway while there are 20 hotlines to stations where quick response teams have been

stationed to respond to anyone attempting to take the fatal plunge.

"Each CCTV on the platforms monitor peoples movement. Cameras can even zoom in on the

passengers if they are seen to behave abnormally. If a passenger is spotted loitering about

for 15 to 20 minutes without boarding trains, RPF personnel are alerted," a senior Metro

official told PTI.

The authorities have video recordings of past suicides on the tracks which have been viewed

for tell-tale signs before a suicide. "We cannot read people's minds, but erratic behaviour

such as restlessness before the arrival of a train and hanging around on the stairs and

platforms can tip us off about a would be suicide," he said. There were, however, logistical

problems for the Quick Response Teams to respond in an emergency.