No cell phones in running rooms, loco pilots protest

Nagpur: The railway running staff is on a warpath with the administration against the draconian conditions to keep them out of the division headquarters for 72 hours and not allow mobiles inside the running rooms.
A national protest call has been announced from March 11 to 15 against the railway administration by the Railway Board-recognized National Federation of Indian Railways (NFIR) which runs the Central Railway Mazdoor Sangh (CRMS).
As part of the ongoing protests, the running staff is working by sporting black badges. Gate meetings are held to highlight the massive exploitation of employees by the administration.
On March 15, a big protest morcha will be taken out to hand over a memorandum of demands to divisional railway managers (DRMs).
CRMS divisional president Virendra Singh said as per the fresh orders issued last week by the operating department head, loco pilots (LPs), assistant loco pilots (ALPs) and train managers will have to stay outside the headquarters for 72 hours.
“We can stay in the headquarters for 16 hours only. These 16 hours actually work out to be 13-14 hours as it takes at least over one hour to move out after off duty and get ready for duty. In the 72 hours when the LPs and ALPs are out, they will have to work for at least 50 hours,” said Singh.
Talking on condition of anonymity, the running staff said while mismanagement is one reason, a large number of vacancies is to be blamed for forcing employees to work day and night. The entire cadre of running staff in Nagpur division of Central Railway is 2,600.
Of these, there are 400 vacancies. At any given time, freight trains take at least 10-11 hours to reach the endpoints of the division at Badnera and Ballarshah. Besides, the number of trains has increased, forcing the staff to work overtime.
“While forced to work like a whipping horse, several employees face decategorization, again putting strain on the existing staff. If this is not enough, the Railway Board has banned mobiles in running rooms. If an employee wants to talk to family members during rest hours in running rooms he cannot as cell phones have to be deposited,” said a section of employees.