Mumbai: In a stern message the Railway minister Sadananad Gowda recently made it very clear to senior officials to perform efficiently and live up to the expectations of people.
It seems that the new Government is keen to make Indian railways more efficient from its present status. Pushing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agenda, railway minister Sadananad Gowda has sent out a terse “perform or perish” message to the officials and even asked junior officials to communicate directly with him bypassing the seniors, if need arises. To be more candid, after a long time a Railway minister is talking tough to the senior officials. Seeking a “comprehensive change” in the national transporter’s functioning, Gowda, recently said it “stands much behind in efficiency, punctuality, cleanliness and services”, and askes senior officials to wake up. “Indian Railways carries the largest number of passengers and freight, but we stand much behind in our efficiency, punctuality, cleanliness and services. You all need to be innovative and find solutions to these issues. Conventional thinking and present style of functioning will not help us achieve anything,” Gowda said at a conference of General Managers and Divisional Railway Managers (DRMs). He categorically stated, “Normally, the tendency is to come out with replies and excuses for non-performance which will not be tolerated by our government.”
Without mincing words, Gowda made it clear that the present government’s mantra is performance and people want immediate results. “Though we plan for five years, we need to start producing results as soon as possible. Our government’s mantra is either perform or perish. This is applicable from the last employee of Railway up to the Board,” People had given clear mandate to this government headed by Narendra Modi and his team and they represent people’s aspirations. “We have promised people and it’s time for us to stand up to their expectations,” he said. Seeking a complete change in the working culture of Railways, he said, “What people want is not few changes here and there, but a comprehensive change which takes the Railways and this country to match the best in the world.” Referring to high-speed train as one of his priorities, Gowda said steps should be taken for introduce bullet trains in the country and average train speed should increase to 150-200 km per hour. He said that railways should be more competitive than the road sector and also made a comparison with Chinese Railways which is “four times more efficient than ours both in terms of number of passengers carried per employee and freight carried per employee”.
Gowda said he is being flooded with complaints against railway services whether it was food or cleanliness or the issue of ticket reservation and emphasised that people want immediate changes and it should be visible. Another important issue highlighted by the minister is railway services whether it was food or cleanliness or the issue of ticket reservation and emphasised that people want immediate changes and it should be visible. Recently, the Government has increased the passenger fares to 14.2 per cent which is huge. By and large people are unhappy with such a huge hike but if the railways extend their services to satisfactory level the anger of people may come down. It is to be seen how the minister changes the scenario of Indian railways!
EPC WORLD NEWS BUREAU
The post Indian Railways: Drastic changes on the card? appeared first on EPC World.