NEW DELHI: Railway passengers can now file complaints regarding corruption issues or give feedback for the services provided by the Railways at dedicated counters set up at railway stations in Delhi. The plan is part of an initiative of the Northern Railways, which was launched during the Vigilance Awareness Week (October 30-November 4). The decision was taken on the last day of the vigilance awareness week on Saturday.
"The feedback survey is to obtain information on the real-time requirements of the passengers, besides addressing their grievances," read a statement issued by Northern Railways. Through the week, the railways launched various awareness programmes at major stations through activities such as 'nukkad natak' (street-play), highlighting the facets of corruption, alongside educating the common man about the different forums to approach with their corruption-related complaints.
In the annual Vigilance Awareness Week observed by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), the commission had requested all Central Government ministries and organisations to conduct activities around the theme - 'Eradicate Corruption-Build a New India'. Teams had been asked to hold activities within their organization as well as take part in outreach activities for the public.
In a report released in April, the CVC had said that a major chunk of complaints of corruption that they had received were for the Railways followed by government-owned banks. In its annual report for 2017, the CVC had said that the highest of 12,089 such complaints were against Railway employees. Of these, 9,575 were disposed of and 2,514 were pending. Further, a total of 1,037 complaints against railway employees were pending for more than six months.