When the fidayeens struck at the Jammu railway station on Friday, one thing could have put a spanner in their works. But, alas, that did not click at the right moment: Close Circuit Television (CCTV) system worth Rs 65 lakh. Of 17 cameras installed there, not even a single one could capture the militants. There are as many as eight cameras installed at various points while the rest are at other places at the railway station. At least three cameras are on platform no 2 — the site of the carnage. And had the cameras worked, the damage could have been contained, admits a railway official.The Railway Protection Force (RPF), the agency responsible for the CCTVs, however, succeeded in recording about two-and-a-half-hour-long battle between the security forces and the militants on the fateful day. But the cameras simply could not capture the images of the militants, who were killed later.An RPF official admits that no militant was captured in the recording. ‘‘We got first official information about the attack from RPF after one hour of the incident. However, later we got good support from them,’’ says Uday Kumar Aima, ASP Railways and Crime. This is not for the first time that the cameras came a cropper. Even during the last attack at the railway station on August 7, 2001, these cameras could not catch the culprits.Read the report card of these cameras, which were installed in 2001, for the last six months: A pickpocket was caught by these cameras on November 27, 2002, stealing Rs 10,000 from the pocket of a passenger of Pooja Express.Sources say, five cameras were damaged due to the splinters of the grenades thrown by the militants. The firing started at 6.50 pm and a camera made the first recording at 6.53 pm — exactly after three minutes of the attack at platform no 2.However, all the cameras damaged in the attack have been re-installed after the repairs, says the RPF official. During the two-and-a-half-hour recording, say sources, RPF have pictures of security forces taking positions, luggage and passengers but no militants. The wrong positioning of the cameras is one of the reasons for this failure, add the sources.In near future, however, the CCTV system may be made more scientific and more cameras may be installed on more height for better coverage, say sources.The day after the militant attack, a meeting of the senior railway authorities and security officials was held, wherein this issue figured prominently. Lack of coordination between various security agencies was also discussed threadbare.
