The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Madurai News : Lalu Prasad urged to take back outsourced services

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 14, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Madurai

Lalu Prasad urged to take back outsourced services

By Our Staff Reporter

MADURAI, SEPT. 13. The Southern Railway Mazdoor Union has urged the Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad, to take back all outsourced railway services, for profitable utilisation of the available infrastructure and for protecting the jobs of hundreds of employees.

Welcoming Mr. Lalu Prasad's announcement that 80,000 personnel would be recruited in two years for the safety and security of railway services, the SRMU zonal president, C.A. Raja Sridhar, said the Minister should take steps to retrieve the outsourced services, in tune with his assurance on halting privatisation.

The purpose of establishing the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) was to streamline the private units such as the non-vegetarian restaurants. "But the IRCTC has taken over the successfully running units and has replaced the private operators. Even as the vegetarian refreshment rooms (VRRs) are being wound up in a phased manner, the IRCTC plans to encroach upon on-train catering services," he told The Hindu today.

Mr. Raja Sridhar said that though several manufacturing units, with adequate manpower, were lying idle, the administration was purchasing spare parts and other mechanical accessories from private companies. "We can always improve our services by putting in place a quality control mechanism. The railway is basically a service-oriented organisation, and profit-making should never be a priority," he said.

The recruitment of 80, 000 personnel should not be done through the Railway Recruitment Boards, since they were appointing highly qualified candidates who often tend to quit for better prospects, he said.

DMK's assurance

Mr. Raja Sridhar said the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president, M. Karunanidhi, assured an SRMU delegation that all MPs in the State would jointly represent the grievances of railway employees to the Centre.

The long-pending demands were better promotional avenues for the Grade D employees, a tie-up between the railway and corporate hospitals for quality treatment, setting up of a permanent wage review board, he added.

Earlier, he participated in a medical council conference, which demanded the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations, filling of vacancies in the medical department and payment of risk allowance for the Grade D employees.

The SRMU Madurai divisional secretary, R. Kesavan, spoke.

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