The 69th Republic Day was celebrated
today (26.01.2018) at Salem Division of Southern Railway with
patriotic fervor. Shri Hari Shankar Verma, Divisional Railway
Manager, Salem Division, Southern Railway, hoisted the tricolor and accepted
the guard of honor presented by the RPF personnel of Salem Division.
While
speaking on the occasion, Shri Hari Shankar Verma recalled the adaptation of the Constitution of India on
this day, with a view to protect the welfare of common men. He
read out the message from Sri R. K. Kulshreshta, General Manager, Southern
Railway. (original text given in full at the end in English).
Show
by RPF Commando Force, and a cultural show by the children from Railway School,
Erode and Salem, were the highlights of
the function. The function was attended by Shri Chander Pal, Addl. Divisional
Railway Manager, Dr. M. Narasimham, Chief Medical Superintendent, Shri P.Ponraj,
Divisional Security Commissioner/RPF/Salem, Sri S. Thirumurugan, Divisional
Personnel Officer, Sri Perumal Nandalal, Sr. Divisional Engineer, Dr. S. Uma Maheswari, Sr. Divisional Financial
Manager, Sri A. Vijuvin, Sr. Divl Commercial Manager, and other Divisional
officers, employees, and their family members in large numbers.
Later,
Sri Hari Shankar Verma declared open the RPF Inspector’s Office at the Salem
Junction PF No.3/4 and also the RPF Barracks on the western side of the Salem
Junction, in the presence of Salem Division Officials. He said that the
barracks will be sheltering both the RPF and the GRP personnel and further
improvements will be made in the Barracks.
General Manager’s Speech-69th Republic
Day-26th January 2018
My colleague officers
from Headquarters and Divisions and their families, Retired Officers present
here, Supervisors and staff and their families, Representatives of Press and
Media, Representatives of recognised Trade Union & Associations, Ladies & Gentlemen and My dear children.
Good morning to all of you on the occasion of 69th
Republic Day of our Nation today. It is
my privilege and pleasure to extend my best wishes and greetings to all of you
present here and your families.
Just as our Constitution preserves secular, sovereign
democratic character of our country, Indian Railway helps to nurture national
integrity, fulfilling the transportation needs across length and breadth of our
country without any bias of caste, creed, region or religion.
On this vibrant occasion, I would like to inform
all of you certain highlights of Southern Railway..
Upto Dec.’17 this year, Southern Railway’s gross earnings is at Rs.5422.09
crores and our operating ratio is 168.07%. I am happy to inform you that we are operating
63% more number of special trains than last year apart from regular trains
(i.e. 1974 special trains). We are also planning
to run another 270 more special trains, time tabled summer specials and augment
extra coaches during demand time this year.
We also have provided 25% more traffic blocks to attend safety track works
in this year. In-spite of that, we could able to maintain 83.7% punctuality so
far.
I would also like to mention few important passenger facilities provided like
Emergency Medical centres which have been set up at
23 stations, Child Helpline centres at 6 stations, Differently-abled friendly
measures at 71 stations, ‘Wi-Fi’ at 23 stations, 84 Escalators and 61 Lifts
commissioned over Southern Railway.
These passenger friendly measures will be provided in many more stations
in the coming year.
I would also like to highlight the fact that all 735 stations will be
provided with 100% LEDs.
On safety front, I am happy to mention that all unmanned level crossings
will be eliminated in A, B, C routes before March 2018. This year, SouthernRailway
has already eliminated 52 unmanned level crossings and constructed 15 Road Over
Bridges and Road Under Bridges. We are actively working on removing all
unmanned level crossing in Southern Railway by September 2018.
As per the vision of our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji
towards clean India, Southern Railway accords highest priority for
cleanliness. I am very glad to inform
you that Kozhikode station in Southern Railway ranked No.1 by the travellers in
terms of cleanliness in the survey conducted by IXIGO.
We are also giving utmost priority in the passenger comfort. I am glad to inform that we have attached two
Ánubhuti Coaches’ in Shatabdi Expresses which increased the passenger comfort
with modern facilities. New LHB design coaches have also been introduced in 12
trains and few more trains will be introduced this year. Bio-toilets in all coaches will be provided
by December 2018.
We are also concerned about the Safety and Security of the passengers
especially women passengers. As part of enhancing security, Southern Railway have
implemented Integrated Security System at 14 important Railway Stations by way
of providing CCTVs. Under Nirbhaya Fund,
CCTVs are also to be provided in the 136
A1, A, B, C category stations including Suburban Railway Stations and as
a trial measure, work has been completed in Nungambakkam Railway station.
On the part of Energy saving, Southern Railway did a very good job to
get First Prize in National Energy
Conservation Award by Ministry of Power for the year 2017 for Central Workshop,
Ponmalai.
During the recent bus strike, Southern Railway has taken swift action in
running more EMUs for the benefit of stranded passengers which was widely
appreciated by Press and Public.
As far as projects are concerned, Southern Railway has spent so far Rs.299
crores on Doubling, Rs.294 crores on Gauge Conversion, Rs.52 crores for New
Lines and 201 crores for Road Over Bridges/Road Under Bridges.
We have recently commissioned the Tambaram Coaching Terminal which will ease
the congestion at Egmore.
This year, Madurai-Chennai route will be fully doubled. Edamann-New
Aryankavu (21 km.) gauge conversion will get completed and it will connect
Kollam/Trivandrum to Chennai via Madurai and Sengottai..
The Three prestigious doubling with electrification
rail development projects of Tamil Nadu and Kerala Region viz. Madurai-Vanchi Maniyachi –Ttutiocorin , Vanchi
Maniyachchi – Tirunelveli – Nagercoil section
and Thiruvannathapuram Central – Kanniyakumari section have been sanctioned
and Foundation Stone was laid by Hon’ble Minister of State of Railways Shri Rajen Gohain on 23.01.18.
It is pertinent to mention here that Southern Railway
stood 1st in reduction of public complaints this year.
All these achievements are possible because of the dedicated
and hardworking staff like all of you. I
am happy to state that staff facilitation centres have started to dispose off
grievances speedily and 87 grievance Adalats and pension adalats have been conducted for the
benefit of staff and retired employees.
We are also taking care of our employees by way of providing
excellent health care. Current year as
per the order of Railway Board, Annual Wellness check up has been organised for
all employees and I am happy to note that so far 38600 employees have been
examined.
On this occasion, I congratulate Shri Sathishkumar who won Gold
medal in Weightlifting in Australia and also represented World Weightlifting
Championship 2017 at USA. I also
congratulate Ms. Tintu Luka who won Gold in 800m in Kazakisthan and won silver
in 800m in Asian Grand Prix in April 2017 and congratulate all sports persons
of Southern Railway who have represented our nation in various international
events.
Our trade union has been a major source
of strength and support in every
achievement of Southern Railway. I
would like to sincerely thank for their support and extend my best wishes for
them.
My best wishes for the President of
SRWWO and all their Members for their outstanding work for the staff welfare related
activities.
I would also like to convey my
greetings and wishes to all associations for their support.
On this occasion, I thank and
congratulate each and every Officer, Supervisor and staff of Southern Railway for
their wholehearted support and co-operation and I wish them all and their families
a bright future and good luck in all their endeavours on this republic day.
Thank you,
‘JAI HIND’
