Railway Minister addresses General Managers’ Conference

MINISTER CALLS UPON GMs TO TAKE ALL POSSIBLE MEASURES TO IMPROVE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION MONITORING COMMITTEES TO BE SET UP FOR PROJECTS

The Minister of Railways Kumari Mamata Banerjee has called upon General Managers of Zonal Railways to take all possible measures to further improve all aspects of Railway operations specifically catering, cleanliness, punctuality, safety and security on the Railways as well as take care of social and economic obligations. Addressing a two-day conference of the General Managers of all Zonal Railways and Production Units here today, the Railway Minister said that all Zonal Railways should be more active in ensuring the safety and security of the passengers as the Railways operate round the clock and visible to all.

The Minister said that there is a need of continuous monitoring mechanism to improve the punctuality performance in all Zonal Railways. Kumari Mamata Banerjee further said that quite often there are complaints of delay in completion of on-going railway projects. She said that projects should be completed in a time bound manner and accordingly tenders etc., should be finalized and floated in time.

She said that the budget allocation should be properly spent on the projects and the fund should not remain unspent. She further said that there is a need to make concerned officers accountable and responsible for the delay of projects. She also advised to constitute a monitoring committee at each zone consisting of all core concerned departments to ensure effective implementation of the projects.

She also called upon GMs to commercially utilize railway’s vacant land to mobilize the resource especially through Private Public Partnership model in areas like developing world class stations. She said that Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) needs to be more effective to ensure proper utilization of vacant railway land and land bank should be improved.

Talking out the beautification of railway stations/premises, the Railway Minister said that local touch like local art, paintings and traditional symbols and designs should also be given due place in addition to national level things to make the station premises more attractive with regional/traditional look. Kumari Mamata Banerjee further said that railway employees are the assets of the Indian Railways and are the backbone of this vast organization. They need to be attended to properly and their welfare should be a priority.

It is in this context that Railways will be providing its vacant land for setting up of medical colleges and schools for the benefit of the children of railway employees along with general public. She said that vigilance departments of Railways should play more active and effective role in order to ensure more transparency and an efficient corruption free system in the Railways.

She also emphasized the need to further improve functioning of Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs). The Minister of State for Railways, Shri K.H.Muniyappa in his address pointed out that world is facing a global economic slowdown which is affecting not only industry but transportation sector as well. Though there some visible signs of economic recovery Railways need to really work hard to achieve the targets set for the current year and also the 11th plan targets which are very steep, he added.

He also said that though the number of consequential train accidents have reduced considerably in the first three months of current years, it is necessary that accidents on account of factors within railway control be curbed at all costs. He emphasized the need to provide adequate security and safety to the passengers and to evolve public awareness campaign at a large scale in this regard.

He said that Railways are committed to provide protection to passengers at both stations and on trains. Women RPF (Railway Protection Force) squads need to be deployed for security of women passengers particularly in sections where a large number of women travel alone regularly, Shri Muniyappa said. While addressing the GMs conference, the Minister of State for Railways Shri Shri E.Ahamed said that Railway Budget 2009-10 has addressed many expectations of the people with more concern for the traveling public in general and the down trodden in particular.

However, he said that there are areas of concern like time and cost overruns in project implementation, cleanliness of railway premises and present trend of thefts on trains. He said that vital projects need to be monitored and reviewed and every delay explained and addressed right from tendering stage to project completion.

Whereas cleanliness of railway premises is concerned, there is a need to evolve a system of tendering whereby only competent, committed and sincere agencies are selected. He called upon the GMs to organize more decoy checks and take all necessary steps to identify anti-social elements frequenting trains and stations. Chairman, Railways Board, Shri S.S.Khurana also addressed the conference. Also present on the occasion were the Members Railway Board and other senior officials of the Ministry of Railways. Safety performance, punctuality performance, freight loading, production and quality of output improvement of catering, cleanliness etc, are some of the major issues being discussed during the two-day conference.