Rail workers express concern on corruption

Corruption is the chief issue dogging Indian Railways, which also needs an image makeover. These issues have not been flagged by passengers, but railwaymen themselves.

Along with these, improving passenger amenities, safety of railway employees and increasing earnings from freight were some of the other issues which at least 13 lakh employees raised to improve the railways.

A large number of employees have made suggestions on how to weed out corruption in the tendering processes and the need for constituting a single authority to handle projects worth several crores undertaken by the Railways.

The suggestions also include tips to make travelling a pleasant experience for passengers. Indian Railways has nearly 23 million passengers, every day.

Over 1.5 lakh suggestions will be discussed during a first of its kind three-day conference or Rail Vikas Shivir to be held this month, which will be chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The prime minister is expected to talk to over 20,000 railway employees.

Each zone will zero in upon some 15-20 ideas that will be presented before Modi during the event scheduled to take place from Nov 18-20.

Railways has taken certain measures like decentralising tendering processes and giving powers to general managers for allocation of projects. But there seems to be more scope for improvement.

Modi’s pet Swachh Bharat Mission also remains a cause of concern for railway workers and they feel a lot needs to be done to improve cleanliness.