Protests against cadre merger continue! IRTS officers want division into two streams

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The IRTS has suggested the creation of 2 services- one by amalgamating all engineering services and the other by merging three civil services

Output of meeting with CRB:

The office bearers of IRTS Association had a detailed meeting with the Chairman, Railway Board on Tuesday, 14th January. It was conveyed by CRB that the proposal approved by Cabinet had 4 major parts viz..

(a) Restructuring of Board with CEO and 4 Members + DG/HR + DG(Safety)

(b) Grant of apex level to GMs

(c) Future recruitment to IRMS through Civil Services Examination &

(d) merger of 8 organized services

2. He (the CRB) clarified while Cabinet has given clear approval for the first three issues, the modalities for the merger are to be separately considered by CoS & GoM.

3. On being specifically asked about the contours of proposed merger of services, it was informed that nothing yet has been finalized and the draft proposals will be discussed with all the services before moving ahead.

4. It was also indicated that since it is not legally possible to force any officer to join the new IRMS, some sort of optional scheme is being worked out. However, the modalities of this have also not been worked out in details.

5. The issue of age difference of recruits through Civil Services Exam (CSE) vis-a-vis Engineering Services Exam (ESE) was strongly conveyed to CRB.

6. It was finally requested by the IRTS Association that the details of the cadre merger may be shared so that same can be examined and response conveyed.

The IRTS has suggested the creation of two services

Indian Railways civil servants want the Modi government to change the criteria of selection for high-level posts and divide railway officers into two streams instead of one.

The Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) Officers Association, in a formal representation to the PMO, the Rly Minister, the Cabinet Secretary as well as the Department of Personnel and Training, said that the key challenges that are faced by the national transporter that result in poor financial performance are; high cost of transportation, declining market share, absence of coordinated investment planning, network capacity constraints. These do not get addressed if all officers are merged into an Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS) they have said.

According to the Association, the Traffic Service officers are responsible for core operations of Indian Railways, which include running the trains, planning the transportation solutions as well as business development. As a result, the Traffic Service officers are in charge of earning every penny that the national transporter earns through passenger and freight segments.

Due to early age entry of officers into the Engineering services, those who are in the civil services- Personnel, Traffic, and Accounts, would be deprived of a fair and equitable opportunity to man posts at the apex decision-making levels, the Association said.

The IRTS has suggested the creation of two services – one by amalgamating all engineering services and the other by merging Traffic, Accounts, and Personnel civil services. The association has argued that while the ‘supply side’ will be looked after by the technical wing by ensuring network infrastructure, technical support in signalling, tracks, rolling stock, etc; the specialized civil servants will take care of the ‘demand side’ by understanding the users of the different modes of transport where public policy plays an important role.

The association has suggested in its petition that the posts of DRM (Divisional Railway Managers), GMs (Zonal General Managers) as well as Railway Board Members should be filled through a revised selection process and not just through seniority among various services of Indian Railways.

For the posts of General Manager, the association has suggested a selection panel comprising offices outside Indian Railways such as Cabinet Secretary, DoPT Secretary and even an expert from outside, along with the CEO of Indian Railways, should be formed.

The association has also stated that the eligible officer must be an Additional Secretary rank as well as he/she should have worked as DRM. For the posts of DRM, the association suggested that the eligibility should be akin to those needed for Director in premier PSUs.

And also, the officer should have worked in a division for a minimum of six years. Further, it suggested that the Board Members should be selected through a similar process, from the pool of General Managers.

According to the association, a sizeable number of traffic officers spend 24X7 in producing the railway transportation output. Thus, excluding these officers from the top posts by virtue of entry age and by suddenly changing the service conditions and with retrospective effect will affect the morale of these officers severely.

Output of meeting with mechanical officers

On behalf of IRSME Association, today all mechanical officers met CRB. The points put forward were..

1. We support decision of cabinet and merger.

2. Either there should be complete merger (No two streams) or status quo to be maintained to which CRB agreed there.

3. No quota for DRM/GM or any post.

4. Immediate implementation of recruitment from common service to which CRB told that modalities are being discussed with UPSC but it will be through civil services.

5. Demand raised for merger as early as possible as doubts are adversely affecting work.

6. Fresh Board to be put in place through transparent selection on functional lines.

7. In intervening period, AM/Advisor to look after charge of retired members.

8. CRB told that one year panel will be formed for ADRMs, Board postings, RDSO and CTI postings.

9. No offers for Jamalpur was raised to which CRB in principle agreed to shift it to Lucknow/Rae Bareilly. PED/EnHM (senior most) was in favour of Lucknow as he told work is already sanctioned for Lucknow.

10. CRB told mechanical fraternity and association to openly support complete merger particularly in front of MR.

This is perhaps an eyewash and simply to keep everybody pacified for the time being so that all the halla-gulla gets subsided and the momentum is lost. And if it is not, then why CRB met each and every cadre association officers separately? Why not collectively? He has proved that he is really a spineless, inexperienced and unable to handle the situation!

With inputs: Financial Express