Indian Railways for the first time, is set to start counselling sessions. At least 40 to 50 Railway Protection Force (RPF) staff will be part of the first batch of sessions that commences on October 21. The process has begun two and a half months after former RPF cop Chetan Singh shot dead four people inside the Mumbai-Jaipur Superfast Express on July 31.
Indian Railways does not have any mechanism to chart the mental well-being of its staff. Sources said that Indian Railways was looking at putting a mechanism in place to improve the mental health of the RPF even before the shooting incident. The process was expedited after it happened. However, railway officials feel that one of the biggest challenges will be to get staffers to open up even with counsellors about mental health, stress and other issues bothering them.
The railways have also introduced a ‘buddy system’ in the force. Sources said that the idea was to ensure that at any given point of time during work hours, two RPF staffers tagged along with each other. “The idea is to create bonhomie and an avenue for policemen to discuss issues with each other,” said a Western Railway (WR) official. “This will at least clear stress.” In a worst-case scenario, superior officers will be informed in case any abnormal behaviour is detected.The counselling sessions will be carried out at RPF barracks in multiple locations. The number of sessions and their time and periodicity will vary depending on how freely the RPF staff opens up to counsellors, something which rail officials believe will be a major hindrance.