Indian Railways News => | Topic started by eabhi200k on Apr 20, 2012 - 09:00:08 AM |
Title - Staff crunch hits special train servicesPosted by : eabhi200k on Apr 20, 2012 - 09:00:08 AM |
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KOLKATA: Thanks to the lack of attention paid to filling up of vacancies, Eastern Railway (ER) is finding it difficult not only to run additional services but maintain regular ones. According to the All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA), nearly 3,000 posts of loco pilots (LPs) and assistant loco pilots (ALPs) are lying vacant in ER alone."If you take into account the new trains, this figure may go up to 4,000. Of a sanctioned strength of 67,000 for the whole country, the actual strength of LPs and ALPs is about 50,000. Even after trains are introduced, new posts are not sanctioned in a proper manner. This results in extreme pressure on the existing staff."After our agitation in 1973, it was ordered that LPs and ALPs would work for 10 hours a day. This was never implemented. It is normal for LPs and ALPs to work for 14 hours a day. In some cases, this goes up to 18 hours even. The safety of passengers is compromised in this manner," said M N Prasad of the AILRSA.Though ER officials denied this, sources revealed that the Sealdah division recently wrote to the ER headquarters, stating that running of special trains for IPL spectators may not be possible due to the shortage of staff. After giving the first match on April 5 a miss, ER finally decided to run a couple of trains on Friday when the Kolkata Knight Riders take on Rajasthan Royals at the Eden Gardens. The official statement issued by ER was that the decision was governed by the lack of patronage rather than the shortage of staff. |