Railways to shut down COFMOW on Dec 1, seeks to trim undertakings

Unit for railway workshops being closed as part of finance ministry recommendation on 'rationalization of government bodies'

The railways ministry will shut down the Central Organisation for Modernisation of Workshops (COFMOW) from December 1, a year after the government asked it to rationalise and reduce its undertakings.

From December 1, COFMOW’s matters will be handled by the traction and rolling stock division of the railway board. Officers with COFMOW will be transferred to other divisions, while non-gazetted officers will be redeployed or released on a case-by-case basis.

The decision was taken "in line with the recommendation made by the Principal Economic Advisor (PEA), Ministry of Finance on Rationalization of Government Bodies," according to a railway board circular.

The modernisation unit for railway workshops—it was founded in 1979—will no longer be able to float tenders and all its active projects will be handed over to zonal railways and other divisions.

The company has over the years procured over 22,000 machines to modernise production and maintenance units at a cost of almost Rs 6,300 crore.

In September last year, Sanjeev Sanyal, who was then principal economic advisor and is now part of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, had suggested several mergers and dissolutions as part of a large-scale restructuring of the railways, which has more than 40 corporate undertakings and other institutions.

The decision about COFMOW comes a year after the railways decided to shut down Indian Railways Station Development Corporation (IRSDC). As part of the Sanyal report, Special Railway Establishment for Strategic and Holistic Advancement (SRESTHA), Lucknow, which was formed to take up long-term railway research projects requiring technological advancement, and the Indian Railways Organisation of Alternative Fuel (IROAF) were also shut down.

The Sanyal report had suggested many other alterations, such as the merger of RailTel and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), also suggesting the latter subsume Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), which is the data and information backbone of the national transporter. The report had also suggested the closure of the Central Organisation for Railway Electrification.