Personnel of the Railway engineering wing have decried inordinate delay in filling vacancies, including those of track maintenance staff, despite its direct implication on the safety of trains.
They cited a recent incident in Kollam, where a keyman attempted suicide (but was rushed to hospital by colleagues), alleging harassment by a senior engineer who supervised personnel on track duty. A ‘note’ he left behind reportedly refers to he being unable to cope with “the engineer who was staying put at the same office in violation of norms for the past nine years without being transferred, forcing him to do additional hours of work, without entering it in records.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a track maintainer said around one lakh of the total two lakh vacancies in the Railway were in the engineering wing — mainly of track maintenance personnel and gatekeepers at level crossings. “We often have to do double duty in order to get leave. Oftentimes, we are posted on night patrol of 20 km sections for as many as four days a week. Such unscientific allocation of duty roster could eventually lead to workers showing negligence.”
