MYSORE: The All-India Stationmasters Association has condemned what it terms "the anti-labour attitude" of the Railway Ministry and accused the Ministry of giving false information to a government committee. Train accidents are occurring because vacancies in posts of personnel in charge of safety are not being filled, according to the association.

The condemnation came at the end of the two-day All-India Stationmasters' Convention, which concluded here on Friday. The association felt the Ministry was feeding false information on provision of adequate leave reserve, rest givers and trainee reserve posts to the Standing Committee on Railways.

The ground reality, the association said, was that a large number of leave reserve and rest-giver posts remained vacant resulting in stationmasters being overworked without adequate rest. "This sort of exploitation by the Railway Ministry results in accidents, which is conveniently termed human failure," the association said.

The association urged the Railway Ministry to post additional stationmasters at centralised points and grant commercial allowance for commercial duties.

Other resolutions sought a centralised headquarters for stationmasters, scrapping of grade to grade selections and national holiday pay and night duty allowance. The convention also demanded the provision of basic amenities in all railway stations, an end to "victimisation" of stationmasters and running allowance.

The convention was attended by 300 stationmasters from all over the country. The central committee of the association was elected on the occasion. R.S.K. Sharma was elected president and G. Rajan, M.C. Mishra and A.N. Tiwari vice-presidents.

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