New Delhi, Jul 17 (PTI) Railway employees’ unions have flagged concerns over staff housing facilities, including alleged corruption in the allotment of newly-constructed quarters and poor condition of old flats, and requested the ministry to intervene in the matter.
The Indian Railway Signal and Telecom Maintainers Union (IRSTMU) wrote to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on July 13, saying the functioning of the housing committees where residential facilities are provided to the staff is “very opaque and unfair”.
Indian Railway Employees Federation’s (IREF) National President, Akhilesh Pandey, highlighted severe anomalies in the allotment process and said the conditions of many old quarters are so bad that the staff feel unsafe in them.
However, the Railway Board’s Executive Director, Information and Publicity, Dilip Kumar, didn’t respond to these allegations.
Indian Railways S&T Maintainers’ Union (IRSTMU) General Secretary Alok Chandra Prakash alleged that middlemen help their favourites get good quarters while the needy and deserving are forced to live in rented houses.
“In many cases, needy employees are not allotted the flats despite these remaining vacant for months,” Prakash said.
“Some powerful departments unauthorisedly create a pool of quarters for their employees and don’t allow other departments to get any out of that pool. In such cases, flats remain vacant… and the needy staff of other departments suffer.” Prakash cited an instance of Palanpur station of Ahmedabad division in the Western Railway, where, according to him, type-4 quarters have been lying vacant for months but cannot be allotted to a Junior Engineer in the signal department because these quarters fall in the pool of the traction department.
There have been cases at various stations where hefty amounts have been paid as bribes to middlemen to get a good flat, he alleged.
“The process of allotment and availability of all railway quarters should be made online. The allotment should be done on the basis of need, and the pool system should be done away with,” Prakash suggested.
“To ensure fair allotment of newly-constructed flats, a lottery system should be introduced to settle controversies.” Prakash highlighted that the Railways has created an online platform — the Railway Building Maintenance System — for maintenance and management of quarters as well as for raising grievances about services. However, it doesn’t have any online allotment process, he said.
Pandey, on the other hand, highlighted the pathetic condition of railway quarters at many stations and said these flats are in dire need of reconstruction or refurbishment.
“There is an urgent need to reconstruct all old-age railway quarters according to the present needs and status of employees. Most quarters are vacant due to poor maintenance,” Pandey said.
“Funds are spent in files only, while the reality is just the opposite. Corruption is so rampant that even newly-constructed quarters and offices need repairs within one or two years after allotment,” he added. PTI JP JP NSD NSD
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