Tatanagar's Railway Protection Force (RPF) unit has sent a proposal for procuring a doberman puppy for its dog squad on Monday.

The puppy will be trained in tracking and will subsequently be inducted in the squad which is presently without any tracker.

RPF inspector, Tatanagar, MK Sahoo said that their dog squad is supposed to consist of two sniffers and a tracker, but presently there is one sniffer only, causing the railway police to face hardship in carrying out the investigation when the situation arises.

"We have only one sniffer, a labrador with which we have to carry out our search operation in the trains as well as in the railway yard. But we are in urgent need of a tracker without which we find ourselves handicapped often. We have, therefore, sent a proposal for a Doberman puppy which will be trained and inducted in the dog squad," said Sahoo while talking to The Telegraph Online.

He pointed out the proposal has been sent to the higher ups of the Chakradharpur railway division under which Tatanagar falls and it will be eventually sent to the South Eastern Railways' headquarters at Garden Rich in Calcutta for final approval.

The RPF inspector said the Doberman proves to be a good tracker and the labrador is known for carrying out the sniffing job diligently.

"The doberman puppy will be procured through a tender process. Once it is procured, dog trainers from Kharagpur will be providing the training at the RPF's dog squad in Kitadih. After a year-long training the doberman will be inducted in the squad for its service," said the RPF inspector.

Sahoo, when queried, both sniffer dogs and trackers are of great use for the department.

"Not only for the railways, the sniffer and tracker at the Tatanagar station used to be sent to as far away as Rourkela and Ranchi. Even the local police would burrow it for detection of criminal cases. But in absence of a tracker in the squad we are dependent on the tracker from the companies like Tata Steel and Tata Motors," the RPF inspector pointed out.

A senior RPF official said ever since the naxalism started here in the Singhbhum region, the need of both tracker and sniffer dogs is being felt increasingly.

"Apart from using the sniffers and tracker in detection of general crime, they are being put into service increasingly for checking unclaimed bags and also suspected explosives at the railway station, in the trains and also at the railway tracks," said the official requesting anonymity.