- General Secretary IRSTMU writes letter to PM for recreation of post of Member (S&T) and filling of the post of AM (Signal)
NEW DELHI. The post of AM (Signal), one of the most important posts from the safety point of view in the Signal Department of INDIAN RAILWAY, since 01.07.2023 has been kept vacant. IRSTMU General Secretary Alok Chandra Prakash has written a letter to the Prime Minister demanding creation of the post of Member (S&T) as well as immediate filling of the post of AM (Signal)
According to General Secretary, IRSTMU ever since independence, the S&T staffs have been feeling that there is no one in the Railway Board to take their stand firmly and feeling ignorant. Because we the S&T staffs have tried several times from different forum to convey our decades old demand, in view of which, on the instructions of yours, the Prime Minister, on November 14, 2016, Shri Akhil Agarwal took the charges of first ever Director General (S&T) since Independence with independent charge vide Railway Board Letter No. ERB – 1/2016/11/5 dated: 14.05.2016.
Then on April 16, 2019 Shri N. Kashinath, 2nd DG(S&T) was upgraded to Member (S&T) vide Railway Board Letter No. 2019/O&M/8/1 dated: 16.04.2019 (Office Order No. 28 of 2019). This was the Golden period of the S&T department since Independence. Thereafter, on September 8, 2020, the post of Member (S&T) was abolished by the Post of Member (Infrastructure) vide Railway Board Letter No. 2020/O&M/8/1 dated: 08.09.2020 (Office order No.64 of 2020) and 2nd and the last Member (S&T) Shri Pradeep Kumar was taken the charges as First Member (Infrastructure) And thus the Golden age of the S&T department was brought to an end in just four years. The important thing in this is that all these decisions were taken during your own tenure, the Prime Minister.
Again he added that since 01.02.2023, the post of AM (Signal), Railway Board has been re-designated as Sp. DG (S&T), RDSO and AM (Signal) Shri Rahul Agrawal is sent to RDSO, Lucknow. Now, while the Signal Department is most closely linked to safety, the post of AM (Signal) has been kept vacant, keeping safety at stake.