E-Paper
Railways plans to punish officials for negligence in case of accidents
The board that governs the Indian Railways has asked zonal offices to ensure disciplinary action against officials whose negligence causes an accident or loss of life
The board that governs the Indian Railways has asked zonal offices to ensure disciplinary action against officials whose negligence causes an accident or loss of life.
In a letter written on December 5 to all general managers, including the heads of the Konkan Railways Corporation and the dedicated freight corridor corporation (DFCC), the Railway Board said they had observed negligence of officers in various recent accident cases and hence it was crucial to not only identify the officer responsible for negligence as ‘blameworthy’ but also take action against him/ her. HT has a copy of the letter.
“In various accident cases, it is observed that sometimes negligence on the part of officer(s) has led to situations of (i) inadequate inspection of assets/working, (ii) inadequate supervision of train working, (iii) inadequate worksite protection, (iv) non-compliance of extant rules in working of trains, (v) defective design, (vi) malpractices in the system of working, (vii) failure of system, etc.” said the letter.
According to a railways official familiar with the matter, accountability was one of the aims to come up with such a decision.
“..It is necessary that in consequential train accidents leading to loss of human life and/or interruption of any important through line of communication for more than 24 hours or as General Manager deems fit, if negligence on the part of officer(s) leading to the above mentioned situations is observed, the concerned officer(s) of Zonal Railway(s) and/or concerned PSUs should be invariably identified and made ‘Blameworthy’ under the para related to responsibility in the Accident Inquiry Report. General Manager, on the recommendation of Principal Chief Safety Officer, may decide upon the level of Disciplinary Action proposed to be taken against such officer(s) while accepting the Accident Inquiry Report,” the letter said.
