Jaipur: The Jaipur district collectorate has asked Northwestern Railway to secure its overhead water tanks after three NSUI activists climbed a railway reservoir to stage a protest, exposing weak access controls at railway-owned structures.Collectorate officials said the tank belongs to the railways and is easier to climb than reservoirs maintained by the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED), which tightened safety measures after repeated incidents in 2023-24.“Following a series of such protests in 2023-24 the PHED has issued a circular to implement a few steps to block access of the protestors from climbing up the water tanks of the department. This has drastically reduced such cases. We have asked the railways to follow such measures. Railway officials have accepted our proposals in principle,” a senior district official said.The PHED order, issued in Oct 2024, requires staircases in new overhead tanks to start 4.5 metres above ground. Engineers and maintenance workers must use a designated foldable ladder to access them. For older tanks where structural changes are not feasible, gates must be installed at staircase entrances, with access limited to PHED staff and authorised workers.A Jaipur Civil Defence official said the railway tank climbed by the activists has a staircase starting at ground level and no gate, making access easy.Civil Defence records show Jaipur district reported 19 cases between Sept 2023 and Oct 2024 of people climbing reservoirs either to protest or attempt suicide. Since PHED modified its tanks under the circular, only five to six such cases have been reported in the district over the past two years.“We don’t have figures for the entire state. But following the notification, such a trend has reduced significantly in entire Rajasthan,” a Civil Defence official said.PHED officials said the few incidents reported after Oct 2024 involved secluded tanks without security. In some cases, protesters used ladders left nearby or brought their own, reducing the effectiveness of raised staircases and gates.
