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print versionAITUC
03rd June 2023
PRESS RELEASE
The following statement regarding the tragic rail accident in Odisha was released to the press by AITUC Secretariat, New Delhi
Will the Modi Government take moral responsibility for the tragic rail accident in Odisha?
AITUC demands rollback of privatisation policy of Railways.
AITUC is of the firm opinion that Central Government has been neglecting the basic infrastructure of Railways, such as the required manpower, maintenance of assets, railway tracks, and signaling system while flagging off Vande Bharat trains for propaganda purposes.
This has created a high-end railway system while making it precarious for the common people - a formula to denigrate Government owned services and then privatise them. The BSNL and MTNL are notorious examples. The Hidden Agenda is of course to privatise the Railways. The Odisha accident is a direct consequence of this policy.
AITUC demands adequate compensation to the dependents of the deceased and a rollback of the privatisation policy.
AMARJEET?KAUR General Secretary
SUKUMAR DAMLE National Secretary
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IFTU National Committee Statement
TRAIN ACCIDENT HIGHLIGHTS BURNING NEED FOR WITHDRAWAL OF PRIVATIZATION POLICIES OF CENTRAL GOVT AND POLICIES TO INFORMALIZE AND CHEAPEN WORK FORCE!
The country and common people are bearing the bitter results of the policies of privatization of Railways and also of informalizing all jobs, decreasing workforce, non-regulated working hours and wages. The National Committee of the IFTU expresses its heartfelt condolences to the families of all those who have lost their lives in the terrible railway accident today. Both the trains involved regularly have huge numbers of workers as passengers as thousands and thousands of people from W.Bengal and Odisha are employed in southern states.
The Central Govt.must take responsibility for the accident and its Railway Minister should resign forthwith. The affected families must be immediately and adequately compensated for the tragic loss of precious lives, including providing a govt job to a dependant of anyone who was the breadwinner of the family. The hundreds of injured should be each treated at the cost of Central Govt and should be compensated for entire potential loss of income.
The work of maintenance of many stretches of railway tracks is among the departments being outsourced/ privatized by Central Government. The workforce in such type of important departments which involves the safety of passengers and the safety of the railway system itself, is being reduced in the name of cost-cutting after sourcing the employment through Outsourcing or Contractors This compromises the overseeing and the maintanence of the tracks’ safety. The regular workforce of railways was 13.7 lakhs in 1970-71, 16.5 lakhs in 1990-91, 13.34 lakhs in 2015 and 12.53 in 2019-20 Financial year. In addition, the Central Govt has increased the allowed axel load to allow earning more money from freight trains. This too increases wear and tear of tracks. Profit hunger of Private giants decreases both the money spent on maintenance as well as on workers.
An Enquiry will be started by the Railway Ministry to pinpoint the concrete reason/s for this particular train accident. But the fact is that privatization of several departments of an essential service like Railways, reduction of work force in the name of rationalization, increasing of workload and unregulated or excessive working hours are some of the reasons that markedly increase chances of such accidents. Any such horrible tragedy, even though there will be an immediate cause, must draw our attention to the underlying issue of impact safe functioning of this service.
Indiscriminate reduction of workforce, increased workload on workers, mental tensions and pressures on workers are fallouts of privatization of Public Sector now a days. Modi Govt is serving the interests of the Corporate. This government is planning to hand over all the public sector properties including the railway department to them. In this background, let us highlight the dangerous and disastrous consequences for the people of India. Let us forcefully raise the demand for the withdrawal of these policies.
Let us forcefully demand Job Security, and the implementation of all labour laws.
National Committee
IFTU
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Text of statement signed by Statement of the Eastern and South Eastern Railway Unions in India [these have been Google translated from Bangla]
Press Statement 03/06/23
The terrible train accident in Balasore shook the heart of the entire country.
According to news reports, at Bahanaga Bazar station near Balasore, the last few coaches of the Down Jaswantpur Express derailed and went on the up line next to it. Almost immediately after the incident of derailment of Jashpantpur Express, Karmandal Express came on the up line and rammed into the lying coaches of Jashpantpur Express. The Cormandal Express, which was running at 120 km per hour, derailed on impact and again hit the goods train standing on the up loop on the other side of the up line. The impact was so strong that the engine of the cormandel went up on top of the wagon and the three rooms were shattered. As of now, more than 250 train passengers have died and the number is sure to rise. Almost all the dead were passengers of Karamandal Express. The worst affected by the accident were the unreserved compartments at the front of the Coromandel Express which are crowded with working people including migrant workers. This accident will be marked as one of the worst accidents in the history of railway accidents in the world in terms of death toll.
The Balasore accident has raised several important and uncomfortable questions about railway management. In the current direction of the railway, the possibility of such major accidents remains in the future. Works related to track maintenance to passenger safety have also been handed over to contractors today. Coupling to connect two coaches has also been outsourced. Along with this, there is a massive vacancy in the safety category of railways. Due to lack of manpower, continuous inspection and maintenance work on the railway line to identify and correct buckling of the railway track during this great storm is not possible. Due to lack of manpower, even very important personnel like train drivers are forced to run trains without adequate rest. All the attention of the government today is focused on running trains and selling railway assets to bigwigs like Bande Bharat. If this policy of handing over Indian Railways to local and foreign capitalists without stopping the safety and comfort of crores of common rail passengers is not stopped immediately, it is only a matter of time before such worst accidents happen again.
We therefore demand -
(1) All vacancies in railway industry including safety category are to be filled up immediately.
(2) Outsourcing should be stopped.
(3) Provide training for unskilled contractor workers in connection with railway line maintenance and other passenger safety works.
(4) Rail line petroling should be increased.
(5) Track monitoring should be increased during summer to detect and intervene early in cases of rail line buckling.
(6) Train crews shall not be made to work without adequate rest.
NN Banerjee
the president
South Eastern Railway Labor Union
Pradeep Banerjee
Vice President
CLW Employees Union
Manoj Roy
the president
Eastern Railway Employees Union
Issued on 3rd June 2023
