Railway safety commissioner cautions Ministry against contractual hiring for critical safety work
Raising concern over the issue, Choudhary said, "Engagement and exposure of contractual staff for the maintenance and operation of critical safety features and systems, as well as allowing them to develop skills in these areas must be reviewed as a priority." It must be brought to a "minimal in short term and null in long term", he added.
In their action taken report, the Railway Ministry stated that the contractual staff, according to the policy, are used for non-critical activities along with or under the supervision of Railway Staff.
The CRS's probe, reported by PTI on Wednesday, revealed that miscreants forcefully removed the components of the track interlocking system, leading to the accident.
Choudhary also observed that the accident happened "not due to automatic/sudden failure of any equipment/assets but due to the forceful alteration in the designed position of LH tongue rails by the miscreant".
On October 11, 2024, Mysuru-Darbhanga Bagmati Express (12578) collided with a stationary goods train at the Kavaraippettai railway station in Tamil Nadu's Chennai rail division at around 8.30 pm, leading to injuries to nine passengers.
The CRS recommendation regarding non-engagement of contractual staff for crucial safety work has reflected the concerns already raised by the Indian Railways Signal & Telecom Maintainers' Union (IRSTMU) when the Ministry on May 6 issued a circular for hiring signalling and telecom staff on contractual basis as a pilot project for the execution of certain non-critical activities.
In a letter to the Railway minister on June 3, IRSTMU General Secretary Alok Chandra Prakash had demanded to fill the vacant posts with permanent employees and not contractual as the S&T department is closely related to the safety and security of railways and passengers.
Prakash said that the CRS recommendation is in the interest of passengers' safety. "I am glad that the Railway Ministry announced permanent hiring after our demand, but its pilot project for contractual hiring is also going on," he said.
"I think the CRS has touched a very crucial safety aspect. Playing with the safety of railways and passengers should be stopped immediately and privatisation through backdoors should be stopped," Prakash added.
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a day ago
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