NEW
DELHI/MUMBAI: Mamata Banerjee's obsession with West Bengal has left the Indian
Railways rudderless. As she presides over a series of accidents, the rot in her
ministry is getting more and more visible. Check out the figures. As many as
89,000 posts at various levels, including 20,000 posts related to railway
safety, currently lie
vacant.
This vacancies include
those of running staff -- among them drivers and motormen -- as well as top
posts such as that of the general manager of Central Railway. In Rail Bhavan,
the ministry's headquarters, the drift is palpable. As the minister continues to
focus on Bengal politics, routine decisions are delayed with almost everyone in
"chalta-hai" mode.
Meanwhile, a
revolt is brewing. The various associations of running staffers -- comprising of
loco-drivers, assistant loco drivers and motormen -- are outraged by the attempt
to pin the blame for Monday's Sainthia crash on drivers Dey and Mondal. They are
demanding a probe that doesn't just look into the driver's role but also the
"criminal neglect" by the railways
brass.
"As many as 76 new
trains have been added by Eastern Railway in the last 14 months but the
infrastructure has remained the same, other than the publicised inauguration of
double lines on two routes. Posts continue to lie vacant. As much as 19% of the
total sanction strength of 5,800 posts for the running staff remain vacant. Each
driver is overworked," a senior loco-driver posted at the Eastern Railway
headquarters told TOI.
Let
alone loco-drivers, even top posts are not being filled up. Central Railway
general manager, B B Modgil retired on May 31. So far no new GM has been
appointed. If a top CR official is to be believed, it will take another three
months for the railway board to appoint Modgil's successor, since a panel of
names has not yet been submitted to the board. The general manager's is an
absolutely critical post and has rarely been known to be
vacant.
Railway officials trot
out shocking statistics to prove the state of negligence in the railways. "There
are around 98,000 sanctioned posts for railway drivers who operate around 17,000
trains daily on the Indian Railway network. There are 26,000 vacancies, out of
them 14,000 for assistant loco-pilots alone," said Shiva Gopal Mishra, general
secretary of the Northern Railwaymens'
Union.
The railway board agreed
that there are vacancies. "We have 18% vacancy as far as running staff is
concerned," said Anil Saxena, ADG, Railway Board. But he claimed in the same
breath that every zone is over-staffed by 30% and that the railways have "a vast
pool from where to choose the
drivers."
Board officials claim
union figures are highly "exaggarated". "We have only 76,000 posts all across
the country. Against this, we have already filled up 53,000 posts," said a board
member.
There's a sense that
the latest scam to hit the railways -- the railway recruitment board scam on the
day the examination for the recruitment to assitant loco pilots -- will only
lead to further delays in appointing and training these
drivers.
"One must remember
that a driver must have at least 13-14 years of experience before he is allowed
to run a mail or express train. Even among them, only about 20% make the Grade A
cut, with others sent for refresher courses. With not even a restroom or basic
facilities in the loco, a driver gets worn out easily," said an
official.
The fact that
railways have been able to add only 12,000km of rail tracks to the 52,000 km it
already had at the time of independence is an indication of how infrastructure
has never been prioritised by railway ministers -- often political appointees
from regional parties that are supporting the central
government.
According to set
procedures, a driver can drive up to seven hours at a strech after which he
needs to be provided 18 hours of rest. The railways claim Uttar Banga Express'
loco pilot M C Dey had 18.30 hours of rest before he boarded. A duty stretch can
go up to 12 hours under "exceptional" circumstances.
"Yet, often with fogs and
other technical delays, our duty hours strech to 14-16 hours," claimed a driver
adding that even after 128 trains were announced in last year's budget along
with frequencies being increased in several others, the allocation of drivers
was not increased. "We often joke that railways have become like roadways buses.
Jaaha passenger dekha, ek train laga diya," he
said.
The fact that Mamata
reportedly clears every file sent to her in Kolkata has done little to fill up
the vaccum that is invariably caused by the boss's absence from the scene of
action.