Bring back Madurai railway division recruitment under Chennai RRB: Vaiko
MADURAI: Rajya Sabha MP Vaiko urged the Southern Railway authorities to bring back recruitment in Madurai Division under the administrative control of the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) in Chennai. At present, the recruitment is carried out under the aegis of the Railway Recruitment Board in Thiruvananthapuram. Vaiko was speaking at a meeting convened by Southern Railway authorities with the Members of Parliament (Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha) representing constituencies within Madurai Division.
Earlier in the day, Southern Railway General Manager RN Singh welcomed the MPs in the presence of Principal Head of all departments of Southern Railway and Divisional Railway Manager P Ananth, and apprised them of the achievements made by the Southern Railway and setting up of passenger amenities at stations under the Madurai Division. He further highlighted the redevelopment works taken up at five stations and the development of 15 railway stations under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme phase I.
Apart from Vaiko, MPs S Thirunavukarasar (Triuchy), S Venkatesan (Madurai), P Velusamy (Dindigul), B Manickam Tagore (Virudhunagar), Dhanush M Kumar (Tenkasi), Karti P Chidambaram (Sivaganga) and P Raveendhranath (Theni) took part in the meeting and spoke on demands from their constituencies.
While S Venkatesan sought toilet facilities in trains for women loco pilots, who have to work for up to 16 hours continuously, Manickam Tagore demanded stoppages for the Antyodaya train at Sattur and Thirumanagalam. He also sought stoppage for train no.16101 Chennai-Egmore-Kollam Express at Sivakasi, and operation of the Silambu superfast express as a daily service.
General Manager Singh in his response said all the demands may not receive immediate approvals. "Even if a Railway Board member was present during this meeting, all demands could not be approved at once. The Union Railway Minister will have to provide consent for the major demands," he said.
Following the meeting, MP S Venkatesan met media persons and said, "The railway officials have informed us that they are making efforts to convert Koodal Nagar railway station as the second terminus in Madurai. I have asked the authorities to announce a special zone between Madurai and Tirunelveli, and Madurai and Tiruchy, so that passengers can get season tickets for travelling over 150 km distance regularly."
Karti Chidambaram, meanwhile, said the meeting was an eyewash. "We raised various demands, but the officials during the meeting said they don't have the power to implement anything. We were told that the demands will be forwarded to other officials," he told media persons.