NEW DELHI : Beginning with a thorough overhaul of Railway Board and merging seven coach factories into one entity , the Central government is speeding up preparations to handover Indian Railways as a whole to private hands.
Railway Board Chairman VK Yadav has been moved from his post and appointed as Chief Executive Officer(CEO). Several major posts on the Board have been scrapped. The fallen posts pertain to departments handling staff, engineering and materials management, and will will likely get taken by corporate representatives in days ahead.
Procedures have begun to sell off coach and locomotive factories after first privatising stations, introducing 151 private trains and bring about private participation in cargo corridor. Seven factories of the Indian Railways would merged into one company to facilitate single-shot sale of their shares.
Chitharanjan Locomotive Works, Varanasi Diesel Locomotive Works, Patiala Diesel Loc Modernisation Works, Chennai Integral Coach Factory, Kapurthala Railcoach Factory, Bengaluru Wheel And Axil Factory and Rae Bareli Modern Rail Coach Factory would be merged into a single company with all of government stakes sold off eventually. Railway lands at various places will be handed in long-term leases.
Also, there will be mammoth cut in employee numbers with almost 3 lakh posts annulled. There will be public notification banning further appointments too and contract labour will be engaged widely instead, for jobs done by regular employees.
Strangely, recognised employees’ unions are silent on the move while DREU, All India Loc Running Staff Association Station Master & Guard Associations are in strong protest against the on-goings. The CITU protest held in July saw large number of Railway employees from Kashmir to Kanyakumari participate in outcry against Centre’s sell-out tactics.
