New rail minister orders officials, staffers in office to work in 2 shifts

Hours after taking charge as the new Railways Minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet, Ashwini Vaishnaw ordered officials and staffers in his office to work in two shifts.

The first shift will start at 7 am and end at 4 pm while the second shift will start at 3 pm and end at 12 am in midnight, an order by his office said on Thursday.

According to DJ Narain, ADG PR, Ministry of Railways, the order has been issued only for MR cell (minister's office) and not private or Railway staff.

"Minister of Railways has directed that all the offices and staff of the minister's office will work in two shifts i.e 7:00 hrs-16:00 hrs and 15:00 hrs -12:00 midnight with immediate effect," Narain said.

"It's for officers in MR cell only as is written in the note and it means--"Miles to go before we sleep..!" So much is to be done and every minute counts for the Railways on a mission mode. MR cell means minister's office, not private, Railway staff," he added.

After taking charge, the new Minister had said that the Railways is a major part of PM Modi's vision and he would work to make the vision a reality.

"His (PM Modi's) vision for railways is to transform the lives of the people, that everyone - common man, farmers, the poor - gets the benefit of the railway. I will work for that vision," said Vaishnaw.

A former IAS officer, Vaishnaw has been appointed the Minister of Railways, Minister of Communications, and Minister of Electronics and Information Technology.

The Railway Ministry was earlier under Piyush Goyal who has been given charge of the Ministries of Commerce and Industry; Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles. The 50-year-old also replaced Ravi Shankar Prasad, as Minister of Communications, and Minister of Electronics and Information Technology. The first time Minister has an MBA from Wharton School, Pennysylvania University, and MTech from IIT Kanpur.