New Delhi, Sep 27 (PTI) In a recent meeting with the high-level committee of the Railway Board, majority of senior divisional operational managers backed the recommendations of Research Design and Standards Organisation on improving the working conditions of train controllers, sources said.
The six-member committee held a video conference on September 24 with the Sr DOMs of 17 rail divisions such as Lucknow, Prayagraj, Kota, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Chennai among others who were nominated by the Railway Board to deliberate on various issues that plague the working of train controllers as highlighted by the Research Design and Standards Organisation’s (RDSO’s) report.
“Majority of Sr DOMs agree that there is an immediate need to upgrade the pay scale from the initial Rs 4,200 to Rs 4,600 as suggested by the RDSO. Some of them were even in favour of upgrading it to Rs 4,800 also so that the post of a controller becomes so attractive that talented and efficient workforce want to join it,” a railway official, privy to the proceedings of the meeting, said.
“These senior officials admitted that increasing vacancies and lack of skilled manpower is hampering the work of the control department which acts like a brain of the railway operation system. They suggested that the only way to bring talented workforce in the Control Department is by incentivising it with various allowances, health benefits and social security post-retirement,” he added.
The Board came into action after a study by the RDSO, which functions under the Railway Ministry, found that train controllers face multiple challenges at work including “unattractive” pay scale, huge stress due to vacancies leading to health concerns and a lack of basic amenities.
The report said section controllers perform high-strain jobs and their task is made more difficult by the around 15-20 per cent vacancies, medically-decategorised officers posted in the department and the absence of appropriate reward either in terms of money or esteem and career growth.
The Indian Railways (IR) is one of the largest networks in the world with thousands of trains traversing various sections of almost 1,05,555 km of tracks daily, the report stated.
“This mammoth activity is controlled by 68 operation centres over the IR network called the Divisional Control Office,” it said.
The Divisional Control Office, situated at divisional headquarters, plays a vital role in the entire operation of the railway network, the report said.
“High vacancy in the cadre ultimately affects the working condition of the staff on roll. Under strenuous conditions, the quality of work also suffers.
“Administration also faces difficulty in managing the rest and leave of the staff. Therefore, vacancy in the cadre should be analysed on priority and effort should be made to fill up the vacancy,” it said.
While identifying the reasons for the shortage of section controllers, the report said 75 per cent of the posts are filled through selection from the feeder cadre of station masters (55 per cent), train managers (10 per cent) and train clerks (10 per cent).
“The initial grade pay of Section Controllers has been made identical with the Station Masters (SMs) grade pay (L/6) in the VIIth CPC. While, earlier the initial pay of Section Controllers was a grade higher (L/6) than the pay of SMs (L/5) and therefore, SMs were interested in applying for the post,” the study said.
“But in the present selection process, there is reluctance from the SMs category to apply for the post of Section Controllers due to lack of any substantial financial gain. This situation has led to the shortage of staff in the Section Controller cadre resulting in further stress on the working strength of the Section Controllers,” it added.
Expressing concern over the current practice of inducting “medically de-categorised” staff in the control department as section controllers, the study said, “A person with any medical condition or handicap will have some restricting working condition where that person will be unable to meet the demand of the job.” The study has suggested several measures such as upgradation in the initial pay scale from grade pay 4,200 to grade pay 4,600 to make them more attractive for the feeder category candidates, introduction of an aptitude test in the recruitment or selection, extension in the duration of training period and reintroduction of direct recruitment which was discontinued in 2020.
After the RDSO’s report, the Railway Board constituted a six-member committee on August 27 to examine and recommend ways to improve the working condition of train controllers.
At present the committee is in consultation with various stakeholders. According to the railway sources, it will soon come out with its final recommendations. PTI JP JP KSS KSS
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