Marathon Staff Grievance Meeting conducted by Salem Division, Southern Railway

With a view to redress grievances of the Staff  and to listen to various suggestions for the improvement of Railways, Salem Division, Southern Railway, is conducting Staff Interactive Meetings called PNM (Permanent Negotiating Machinery) periodically, with the recognized trade union.

The PNM for the year 2017 was conducted for 2 days un-intermittently with the representatives of the recognized Labour Union viz Southern Railway Masdoor Union (SRMU) headed by Sri M. Govindran, Divisional Secretary, SRMU, by the Salem Division administration under the chairmanship of Sri Hari Shankar Verma, DRM, Salem.  The meeting started at 11.00 hrs. on 28.12.2017 (Thursday) and was completed at 14,30 hrs. on 29.12.2017 (Friday), with small intervals in between. In this marathon meetings totally, 420 demands were placed. Major demands included upgradation of Salem Health Unit as Sub Divisional Hospital, Kendriya Vidyalaya at Salem, provision of park at Railway Colonies, construction of new railway quarters, duly demolishing the condemned ones, LED lights for all the houses in Railway Colonies, ensuring RO water supply in all offices and stations, Lady Staff Dress Changing Room wherever not available, etc.  DRM gave on the spot orders for about 412 cases that were within his jurisdictional  powers. For about 8 cases, he advised the Divisional Secretary, SRMU, to approach Southern Railway Head Quarters for action, since they were policy matters to be decided at a higher level. Staff representatives expressed their happiness on getting  solution to almost all of their demands.

The meeting was attended by the other office bearers and members of SRMU, Sri Chandrapal, ADRM, Sri Perumal Nandalal, Sr. Divisional Engineer, Dr. S. Uma Maheswari, Sr. Divisional Finance Manager, Sri A. Vijuvin, Sr. Divisional Commercial Manager, Sri M. Prabhakaran, Sr. Divisional Electrical Engineer, Sr. S. Naseer Ahamed, Sr. Divisional Electrical Engineer, Sri. S. Thirumurugan, Divisional Personnel Officer, and other Salem Division officials.

Pension Adalat (Pensioners’ Grievance Redressal Meet) for the year 2017 held at Southern Railway Salem Division today (15.12.2017)

 

DRM addressing the gathering

 Sri S. Thirumurugan, DPO welcoming the gathering

Pensioners and beneficiaries gathered in the Adalat

With a view to redress the grievances of the railway pensioners, all over Indian Railways, Pensioners’ Grievance Redressal Meets called Pension Adalaats are being conducted twice a year, one regular Adalat and one midterm Adalat.  The Pension Adalat for the year 2017 was held by the Salem Division of Southern Railway, today (15.12.2017) at the Multi Purpose Conference Hall in the Salem DRM Office. The Adalat was presided over by Sri Hari Shankar Verma, Divisional Railway Manager. About 62 claims were received from railway pensioners/beneficiaries during the Adalat. The members of the Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies, (SCOVA) an organization recognized by the Govt. of India, were also invited to be present to assist the pensioners/beneficiaries., Sri S.Thirumurugan, Divisional Personnel Officer, and other Divisional Officers were present during the Adalat.

While addressing the participants, DRM Sri Hari Shankar Verma said that the Indian Railways in general and Salem Division in particular, always focus on the welfare of its staff both serving and retired and no efforts will be spared in ensuring their satisfaction.

Out of the total 62  representations that were received during the Adalat, 35 were disposed in favour of the applicants and an amount of Rs.48,05,333/- (Rupees forty eight lakhs,   five thousands, three hundred and thirty three only) was released in favour of them. The balance representations could not be disposed during the adalat as they were either in contravention to the extant rules or  for want of sufficient documents. 

The pensioners/beneficiaries who attended the Adalat expressed their happiness and satisfaction over the steps taken by the Salem Railway Division authorities to listen to their grievances and settle them off. 

Distribution of free LED Tube lights for Railway Staff in Salem East Railway Colony by Salem Division, Southern Railway

The Ministry of Railways is taking various steps towards conservation of electric energy by usage of energy efficient electric gadgets and also generation of electricity through renewable energy sources such as wind mills, solar panels, etc., with a view to make the Railways greener and reduce carbon footprint.

Salem Division, on its part, taking up the cause of energy conservation by creation of awareness among its staff and rail users, regularly. As a giant leap towards that goal, Salem Division has started distribution of free LED Tube lights to the railway staff residing in railway colonies all over the Division. Already, distribution of such tube lights was done for railway staff in colonies at Podanur (700 Tubes to 350 houses), Coimbatore (370 Tubes to 185 houses) and Karur (380 tubes to 190 houses) at the rate of 2 tube lights per household.

Today (13.12.2017), the distribution of 800 tube lights was started for 400 houses in Salem Railway Colonies, in the presence of Sri M. Govindan, Divisional Secretary of SRMU, Salem other railway officials and staff. These 18 watts LED tube lights will replace the existing conventional 52 W tube lights, resulting in a saving of 68 watts of electricity per household. Thus, in Salem alone, these LED tube lights will result in an average saving of whopping 27,200 watts of electricity overall.

Already, Solar power is being extensively tapped by the Electrical branch of Salem Division by fitment of Solar Panels in various places, such as Salem (3.25 kW),   Tiruppur (2.88 kW), Mettuppalayam (10 kW), and small Solar Plants of 1.5 kW capacity in 6 railway stations in Salem-Vridhachalam Section such as Chinna Salem, Athur, Salem Town, Mukasaparur, etc.,  Solar powered water pumps installed in Perugumani Station in Karur-Trichy Fort Section. Solar water heaters have been provided in all major stations such as Coimbatore, Karur, Salem, Tiruppur, Erode, etc., Solar panel fitted passenger coach has been attached in Coimbatore-Mayavaram Jan Shatabdi Express and 6 more coaches are planned to be fitted with solar panels at a cost of Rs.20 lakhs.  This initiative was ushered in by Sri Hari Shankar Verma, DRM, Salem, with a view to make the Salem Division an energy efficient one. He  congratulated Sri Naseer Ahamed, Sr. Divisional Electrical Engineer, and his team of officers and staff for taking up effective steps in this direction. 

Battery Operated Car services launched in Salem Junction for the Sr. Citizens and Differently abled passengers

There has been  a long  pending demand from differently abled and Sr. Citizen passengers for provision of a battery operated car (BOC) in Salem Junction to travel from the coach to the escalator/elevators and vice versa. Though Salem Division has been trying to get a service provider for operation  of a battery operated car at Salem Junction, it could not be implemented as there were no applications for the same, for the reason that the contractor should bear all the expenses of the battery operated car including the electricity charges, driver salary, etc., but was allowed to display advertisements on the BOC.

With a view to solve this issue, in consultation with the Southern Railway HQ at Chennai, DRM, Salem, Sri Hari Shankar Verma, had taken steps to install battery operated car in Salem Junction on payment basis and the services are now available for the passengers.

The services were launched by Sri K. Madhu, Divisional Commercial Manager, in the presence of Sri M. Shajahan, Asst. Commercial Manager, and other officials of Salem Junction. The BOC will be available for passengers in Platform Nos.3/4 of Salem Junction.

The contract has been awarded to M/s. Shuttle Cars Private Ltd., Chennai, for a period of 5 years and as per the contract terms, the service provider will take care of the maintenance of BOC, driver salary, and all other expenses. He has been permitted to charge Rs.10/- per passenger from the users. No charges are payable for children below 5 years. The provision of the BOC is meant mainly for Sr. Citizens, Medically Sick Passengers, Differently abled persons and pregnant women. The BOC has a carrying capacity of 4 persons and computerized bill will be issued for payment received using a hand held terminal. No luggage other than hand baggage will be permitted to be carried in the BOC. The movement of the BOC will be monitored by a GPS enabled monitoring system. The users can call the dedicated Mobile No.08939806986 for utilizing the battery operated car services. The services will be available 24x7.

Sri Hari Shankar Verma, DRM, Salem, said that such services will soon be introduced in Erode and Coimbatore Railway Stations and he requested the needy passengers to make use of the same. 

Change in the operation of trains on 08.12.2017 and 09.12.2017

To ensure safe operation of trains, the track maintenance works are being carried out by Salem Division, Southern Railway, on regular basis. As a part of the same, on 08.12.2017 and 09.12.2017, track maintenance works are being undertaken near Veerapandi Railway Station, and as a result, the following changes are made in the operation of trains passing through Salem Division:

08.12.2017
1. Train no.66602 Coimbatore-Salem Passenger Train  (MEMU) is partially cancelled between Erode and Salem and the train will be terminated at Erode.
2. Train no.66603 -Salem Coimbatore Passenger Train  (MEMU) is partially cancelled between Salem and Erode and the train will start from Erode instead of Salem.

09.12.2017
1. Train no.66602 Coimbatore-Salem Passenger Train (MEMU) is partially cancelled between Erode and Salem and the train will be terminated at Erode.
2. Train no.66603 -Salem Coimbatore Passenger Train (MEMU) is partially cancelled between Salem and Erode and the train will start from Erode instead of Salem.
3. Train No.13352-Alleppey-Dhanbad/Tata Express will be delayed at Magudanchavadi Station and will be operated with a delay of by 15 minutes in the running. 

Passengers may please make a note of the above and plan their journeys accordingly.

Closure of LC No.9 (Avarampalayam Railway Gate) between Pilamedu and Coimbatore North and construction of Road Over Bridge from 07.12.2017

As part of the various efforts by the Indian Railways to bring down train accidents, the Level Crossing No. 9 (Avarampalayam LC) in between Pilamedu and Coimbatore North railway stations is being closed from 07.12.2017 with due diversion arrangements through Sathy Road and New Siddhapur Road, for construction of a Road Over Bridge (ROB) in its place, with participation by the Govt. of Tamil Nadu. The work will start from 07.12.2017 and proposed to be completed before 30.09.2018, at an estimated total cost of Rs.26 crores which is shared equally between Ministry of Railways and Govt of Tamil Nadu (Highways Department). The proposed ROB will have 2 lane traffic with a width of 12 m and length of 450mtrs on the Ganapathy side/320 mtrs on the Gandhipuram side.  Public may please make a note of the same and plan their movements accordingly.