NEW DELHI: With passenger safety a huge concern, over 30 per cent of corrective action on safety-related issues suggested in eight months have remained unaddressed. Some of the suggested corrective actions by safety officers are pending for over three months, posing a threat to passengers.
An analysis of compliance of safety-related deficiencies during March-October this year shows that out of 5,070 of deficiencies reported in Indian Railways, only 70 per cent were complied for corrective action.
In many Zonal Railways, the percentage of compliance is far below satisfactory, and 5 per cent of deficiencies are pending beyond three months.
The compliance was just 50 per cent in North Central Railway headquartered in Allahabad, followed by 54.5 per cent in East Central Railway in Hajipur and 55.3 per cent in Eastern Railway in Kolkata.
Chairman of Railway Board Ashwani Lohani has told all general managers to weed out unsafe practices to cut down accidents and ensure passenger safety.
Safety in Railways is ensured by close supervision and multi-tier inspections. The safety department carries out super checks of operational and maintenance machinery by inspections, ambush checks, safety audits and joint inspections.
“Safety department monitors implementation of rules/guidelines... Deficiencies pointed out by the safety department during inspections need to be monitored for immediate corrective action to achieve prime objective of safe transportation of passengers and freight,” Lohani said.