135 employees of East Central railway lost battle to Covid during second wave: GM

PATNA: As many as 135 employees of the five divisions of the Hajipur-based East Central Railway (ECR) have succumbed to Covid-19 during the second wave, general manager of ECR Anupam Sharma said. 

The railway zone has extended financial aid to the dependents of the deceased employees, Sharma added. He was speaking on the occasion of Independence day.

“Liquidator payments have been made to the kin of all the deceased employees. Also, 82 dependents have been given jobs on the compassionate ground”, Sharma said, adding that a special "Emergency Corona Emergency Fund" was created with the donations of other employees so that assistance can be provided to the affected employees and their kin.

The GM further said 96% of the personnel working in East Central Railway have been vaccinated against Covid-19.

"The ECR’s growth rate in initial income from January to July 2021, was 14.145% over the target as compared to 37.59% higher than the corresponding period last year," the GM said.

Also, Sharma said, the zone transported 93.96 million tonnes of goods from January to July 2021 amid the pandemic.

The annual target of scrap execution in the year 2020-21 was fixed at Rs 230 crore. “It is a matter of joy that despite challenging circumstances due to Covid, we have achieved a record income of about Rs 308 crores from scrap execution. This is the best performance ever."

"In the current financial year, a target of Rs 240 crore has been set from scrap sales”, the GM said.

“On freight services, the zone registered an income of Rs 11,044 crore, which is 33.37% higher than the previous period,” he claimed.

Sharma also said that with the activation of the "Business Development Unit", 1,526 rakes of various items were loaded from January to July 2021, earning revenue of Rs.340.71 crore.