Railway unions raise a storm over CLI’s suicide

Mumbai: The suicide of Western Railway (WR) chief loco inspector (CLI) R Gaur last week has snowballed into a major issue in Indian Railways

Mumbai: The suicide of Western Railway (WR) chief loco inspector (CLI) R Gaur last week has snowballed into a major issue in Indian Railways. The death has brought forth several cracks in the working system of the railways that remained veiled so far.

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CLIs are an important category of rail employees, as they are directly involved in the safe running of trains. While the motormen and guards manoeuvre the trains, the CLI is responsible for monitoring the working of the motormen, providing refresher training to them and holding counselling sessions from time to time.

On Monday, different railway unions in various cities paid homage to Gaur. Rail employees, especially the ‘running staff’ responsible for the safe running of trains, were present in substantial numbers. One such gathering took place at Churchgate station in the ‘running room’ where motormen, guards, CLIs and other staff were present.

“The railway staff can no more work in fear of the administration. It is heart-breaking that Gaur had to pay with his life. The unions will do everything in their power to support his family and bring change into the system,” said J Bhosale, general secretary, Western Railway Employees Union.

The unions said they were taking the matter seriously. “We have already highlighted the issues faced by the running staff and shall be discussing them with the administration,” said Sharif Pathan, president, Western Railway Mazdoor Sangh.

Last month, the administration issued a notice, asking staff to keep the GPS of their official and personal cell phones switched on. The reason was probably to keep track of SPAD cases (Signal Passing At Danger), where a train passes a red signal without being authorised to. However, this angered WR motormen, who said this was done to keep track of their whereabouts and was a breach of privacy and lack of trust.

According to sources, Gaur was pulled up for one such SPAD case recently, where a nominated motorman under him was at fault. If sources are to be believed, Gaur was on leave when the incident occurred.

A letter written by Dr M Raghavaiah, general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Railways, to the Chairman and CEO of the Railway Board on February 3, stated: ‘In spite of the dedicated services by CLIs, the ongoing tendency of the administration to take up with CLIs the alleged lapses of loco pilots is causing demoralisation among them. The federation is receiving panic-stricken messages and calls from not only CLIs but also other loco running staff over the recent unfortunate incident of Rakesh Gaur, as he was served with a major penalty charge sheet for the alleged SPAD case of his nominated motorman.’

The WR administration, which grieved the death of R Gaur, claimed it was providing the best facilities to its running staff. “We give them AC rooms, meditation rooms and other facilities,” said a WR official. “We expect them to take rest after work hours. But SPAD cases are serious in nature and so we have to take stern action.”