Nagpur: In a major development, as reported by the local English daily, the Railway Board has moved Tushar Kant Pandey from the post of the Divisional Railway Manager, Central Railway, Nagpur Division. The order to this effect was issued on Monday sending shockwaves across the railway administration throughout the country.
The move, according to the report, comes in the backdrop of three hours of shutdown of the Operating Control Room at Nagpur Division by the agitated employees who protested the death of a colleague at the Divisional Railway Hospital. The shutdown of Operating and other Controls on January 5 was in reaction to the death of a Controller Sunil Nitnaware which employees claimed was a case of medical negligence. The issue snowballed into major controversy as train operations in Central India came to standstill that day.
That division bosses failed to handle the labour unrest is underscored by the administration decision of the Board wherein DRM was shifted midterm of his two year tenure is not lost on anyone. Meanwhile, Pandey, an officer of Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE), is going to be replaced by Manish Agrawal, presently working as DRM at Guntakal Division of South Central Railway Zone. He is from Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers (IRSME). In his place, the Board has shifted Vineet Singh, an officer of Mechanical Cadre only to take over as the DRM. He is presently heading the Sambalpur Division of South Central Railway.
According to the media report, as to Pandey, he is being posted in the same capacity as DRM at Sambalpur Division. To make it look like a routine transfer, the Railway Board interchanged three DRMs, though the underlying current in the matter is not lost on anyone. The move came as a shock for the entire railway fraternity, especially in the aftermath of a meeting DRM Pandey had with National Railway Mazdoor Union (NRMU) boss Venu Nair, it was assumed that the issue was settled. Nair is General Secretary, NRMU, Central Railway Zone as well as that of Konkan Railway Corporation union.
The NRMU boss flew to Nagpur just two days back and parleyed with DRM over the impasse that led to railway employees walking off their workstation from Operation Control, TRD Control, Commercial Control, Electrical Control, Signal Control, and others similar offices at division on January 5. But on the first working day of the week, the Railway Board order about transfer of DRM is seen as the start of a big operation and it’s likely to have wider repercussions in days to come.
