I

NFIR

Registration No. : RTU/Nnnl311201 2

National Federation of IndianRailwaymen 3, CHELMSFORD R O A D ,N E WD E L H I- 11 O0 5 5 Affiliated to : Indian NationalTradeUnion Congress(INTUC) lnternationalTransport Workers' Federation(lTF)

No. IV/Co. Ord/Committee/S&T/l0 The Director General (S&T), Railway Board, New Delhi Dear Sir. Sub:

Dated:17/03/2017 The Director General (P), Railway Board, New Delhi

Hard working conditions and inadequatetraining infrastructure - S&T Staff subjectedto severehardships-Remedia*:l* requested.

I. NFIR brings to the notice of Railway Board, the hard working conditionsbeing facedby S&T Department Staff and inadequatetraining infrastructure as below, for taking necessary action to addressthe problems. (a) Duty roster to S&T Staff:- As per Signal EngineeringManual (SEM) Para 11.9, the Maintainers as well Staff under them shall work to the duty roster provided by the administration.But on many Zonal Railways duty rostersare not issued. (b) The JEs/SSEs(Sig) are not permittedto avail weekly rest in most of the Zones. (c) The norms/yardstickissuedby the Railway Board in the year 2010 for JEs/SSEs(Signal) and Maintainer (Sig) etc., have not been implemented,consequentlythe staff are under tremendouswork pressure. (d) On many Zonal Railways rest givers, traineereserveand leavereserveare not provided. (e) JEs/SSEs(Signal)are deniedweekly rest eventhough they are on sustainedattentionwith no period of relaxationthroughoutthe duty period due to increasein densityof traffic and wear and tear of S&T installations. Thev deserveto be classified as continuousunder HOER. (D I" most of Zonal Railways no rest house/accommodation is provided for thoseworking in construction/projectorgarizations.Even open line staff are also suffering due to lack of rest housefacilities. (g) Safety Items i.e. Safety Jackets,Rain Coats,Shoeetc., are not regularly suppliedin most of the Zonal Railways (refer Railway Board's letter No. E(W)/95 UN1-19 dated 0110312004 and 2015/Sig.,lE.Non-Gaz/l dated2010712016). Whereversupplied,they are found to be of poor quality. Contd.Page...2

/t2// II.

Training:(a) As the teaching allowancebeing l5o/oofPay, efficient staff are not interestedto join as Instructors. Report also received that there is shortageof instructors at S&T Training Institute, Byculla, Central Railway. (b) Training Instituteslack basic practical infrastructure. (c) Railway Board (MPP Directorate) had approvedthe training modules in August 1999. However,Jherehas been no revision thereafter,eventhough new technologieshave been introduced. (d) Hostel facilities in the S&T Training Institute, Byculla (Central Railway) are unsatisfactory. (e) No adequatespaceavailable in the S&T Training Institute,Byculla for practical oriented set-up. (f) Instructorvacanciescontinuedunfilled (Byculla S&T Training Institute). (g) Financial approvalsare always delayed for undertakingessentialworks, hurting training quality. (h) No separatepool of Railway quartersfor Training Institute staff. (i) Officials rarely supportto any proposalfor developingof training activities.

NFIR requeststhe Railway Board to kindly arrangeto take necessaryremedial stepson the aboveissuesin the interestof Railways' efficiency. Yours faith

(Dr. M. Raghbvaiah) General Secretary Copy to the ExecutiveDirector (T& MPP), Railway Board,New Delhi. Copy to the ExecutiveDirector (Safety),Railway Board,New Delhi. Copy to the ExecutiveDirector (IR), Railway Board, New Delhi. L--Coy to the GeneralSecretariesof affiliated Unions of NFIR. Media CentreA.{FIR. File No. IU34/Part16. File No. lV26lPartl.