New Delhi. The Railway Board has given an additional charge of Member (Infrastructure) to DG (HR) after the former superannuated on September 30, 2024.
“Ministry of Railways have decided that Shri Naveen Gulati, Director General (Human Resources), Railway Board, should be detailed to look after the duties of the post of Member (Infrastructure) Railway Board, in addition to his own, on superannuation of Shri Anil Kumar Khandelwal on 30.09.2024 until further orders,” an order from the Railway Board dated September 30, 2024, said.
The post of Additional Member (Signal) has also been lying vacant since July 1, 2023 when Rahul Aggarwal, the then AM (Signal) was redesignated as Special DG (S&T), RDSO. Coincidentally, Aggarwal also superannuated on September 30, 2024. The Indian Railway S&T Maintainers’ Union (IRSTMU) has expressed concern and said that vacancy in top positions hamper operational safety as the Railway Board should have put in place the process to select Khandelwal’s successor well-in time.
A section of safety experts also seconded IRSTMU’s concern as according to them Signal and Telecom makes a highly critical area from the operational safety point of view. “Since the day AM (Signal) was redesignated as Special DG (S&T), RDSO, we have been demanding to fill this post but the Board hasn’t taken any action in this regard. Now the Member (Infra) under whom, S&T and Engineering Dept come, retired on September 30 and the Railway Board doesn’t have a regular replacement,” Alok Chandra Prakash, General Secretary of the Indian Railway S&T Maintainers’ Union (IRSTMU) said.
He added, “Though Naveen Gulati sir, Director General (Human Resources), Railway Board, who has been given an additional charge, is a dynamic, competent and highly-regarded officer yet his main focus will be on HR-related issues rather than ongoing as well as upcoming Infra projects including the automatic train protection system Kavach.”
K P Arya, who retired as Chief Signal and Telecom Engineer/Information Technology, Northern Railway said that normally the process of search for a suitable successor is started quite early but sometimes objections crop up in between which delay the appointment.
“Having said that, I believe that the Ministry should have been well-prepared to take all such challenges in its stride to make regular appointments on time instead of coming up with a stop-gap arrangement,” Arya said adding, “When safety is being questioned due to frequent derailments and accident, these top positions cannot remain vacant or run with ad hoc mechanism.”
Navin Kumar, National President of IRSTMU said that stop-gap measures in case of crucial posts hampers operational safety. “If DG(HR) has been given extra charge of Member (Infar) it also suggests that it will take a longer time than expected to appoint a new MI. Also if the posting of the head of the safety-related departments is being delayed, then isn’t this playing with safety?,” Kumar questioned.
Team Members of IRSTMU reached RDSO, Lucknow to honoured Shri Rahul Agarwal Sir, Ex.AM (Signal), Railway Board and Sp.DG (S&T), RDSO on his superannuation on 30th, September, 2024. Shri Devendra Kumar, Shri Manish Kumar, Shri Shailendra Kumar and Shri Kamalesh Kumar were the part of Team IRSTMU.
