Railways to prepare blueprint to stop harassment of field staffers

The railways has asked its zonal offices to prepare a blueprint to ensure that field staffers such as trackmen, gangmen and section officers are not harassed for delays in maintenance work.

The decision was taken after the Commissioner of Railway Safety (Northern Zone), in his final report on the August 19, 2017 derailment of the Puri-Haridwar Utkal Express, suggested that the railways should device a mechanism through which it can stop harassment and the ensuing blame game as it affects morale and above everything else takes away the decision-making ability of the field staff.

Highlighting the section on the field staff in the report, Chairman of the Railway Board Ahwani Lohani said, "This is more relevant. In addition, we need to ensourage our staff to take proactive steps to obviate the unsafe condition."