Notification of Employees Charter for ensuring time bound redressal of railways employees’ issues

Notification of Employees Charter for ensuring time bound redressal of railways employees’ issues 

Notification of Employees Charter for ensuring time bound redressal of railways employees’ issues 

IMPACT OF ENHANCED DELEGATION AND EMPOWERMENT

i.) Improved Safety

GMs have been given full powers to sanction out of turn safety related works without any ceiling, within the financial limit set out by Ministry of Finance. DRMs /Chief Workshop Managers (CWMs) have been given powers to re-engage retired railway employees up to 62 years of age against vacancies. This will take care of safety and maintenance related works wherever there are vacancies. Enhanced powers for repairs of Track Machines have also been given to the field officers for faster track safety work. Further, procedures have been substantially simplified for procurement of material like spare parts for locomotives, coaches etc.

ii.)Faster access to work/breakdown sites

Junior field officers and supervisor in charges have been provided multi-utility vehicles, and may hire vehicles up to Rs 5,000/- per case for rushing to breakdown sites without loss of time; this will lead to faster restoration of train services and improve punctuality/safety of trains.

iii.) Improve stations and passenger interfaces

Power of DRMs to sanction amenities and works (like waiting halls, platform shelter, lifts/escalators, digital chart displays, illumination, train/coach indication board) has been increased from Rs 1 cr to Rs 2.5 cr per case.

Powers have been given to DRMs for repair of computers, printers and other equipment for Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS)/Passenger Reservation System (PRS), up to Rs 50 lakhs per case, to reduce passenger inconvenience in case of a break down. Further, they have been fully empowered for hiring of space for opening of UTS/PRS at non-rail head terminals. This will hugely benefit passengers in remote areas for booking tickets.

Station Directors in large Stations have been now given the powers of the Branch Officers in the divisions to enable them to take decisions for smooth operations. Instructions have also been issued to post young and dynamic officers as Station Directors at 75 important stations.

iv.)Ease of procurement by user departments

Departments have been empowered for procurement through Government E-Marketplace (GeM) directly up to Rs 25,000/- per case with a ceiling of Rs 10 lakh per department in the zone.

v.)Innovative financing & efficient execution of projects

DRMs have been given full powers to undertake projects on Build Own Operate Transfer (BOOT) basis like setting up of laundry for linen cleaning, which will reduce set up time of essential amenities.

vi.)Improved upkeep of equipment

Divisional officers have now been empowered to enter into Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) of critical equipment with OEMs to ensure uninterrupted service.

vii.)Swachh Bharat: Improve cleanliness and hygiene at stations and in trains

DRMs have been empowered to enter into service contracts like cleaning of stations and trains upto Rs 100 cr from earlier Rs 20 cr. They will be able to enter into long term contracts, which would attract participation of quality vendors.To ensure important services are not discontinued in case of contract failures, they can engage a new approved vendor following a quotation process.

Full powers have been given to DRMs to sanction environment related works like solar panels, rainwater harvesting, rainy wells, water recycling.

viii.)Enhanced revenue earning

DRMs have been given full powers to enter into earning contracts like leasing of parcel space, brake van, parking, publicity etc. which, will improve earnings for Railways. They will also have land licensing powers to help in early commissioning of private sidings.

ix.) Improved Security

GMs can now sanction 2 wheelers for all RPF chowki in-charges to improve their mobility and response for better safety and security.

x.)Move towards Digital India

GMs have been given powers for software development up to Rs 2.5 cr per case and DRMs up to Rs 10 lakh per case.This will improve technology adoption at the operational level while enhancing efficiency.

xi.) Enhanced training & capacity building of staff

Substantial powers have been given to DRMs for training of staff in new technologies which, will improve efficiency and productivity of staff. Power has been quadrupled to Rs 40,000 per trainee per course from Rs 10,000 earlier.

xii.Way Forward - Model Schedule of Powers for Zonal Railways

A model Schedule of Power (SOP) covering the best practices of all zonal railways is also under preparation and would be released shortly. The model SOP would serve as a guiding document and minimum benchmark for delegations of powers by GMs to DRMs and field units. However, this would not restrict GMs from further delegating powers and in fact, would encourage them to adapt as per local requirements.

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