Merger of Railway cadres will hurt safety

The problem is basically one of incompetence at the top — and of a promotions system where age alone matters

- INDRA GHOSH

The recent government decision to merge all eight services of the Indian Railways (IR) into a single ‘management service’ has resulted in heated discussion, both ‘for’ and ‘against’ the move. This decision has been taken basically to end departmentalism in IR; but that is the least of IR’s problems.

At the divisional level, departmentalism affects barely 5 per cent of the IR’s working, and at the zonal level it affects maybe 15 per cent of its working. It is at the level of the Railway Board members that departmentalism is rampant, when every Board member tries to get the maximum for his department.

Departmentalism exists in every organisation, including the defence services, it’s only a matter of degree. But even in the army, despite departmentalism, it works towards the common organisational goal.

Organisational working

I feel that the top bureaucrats who advised the political leadership for taking the above decision are clueless as to what is it that ails IR; leave alone suggesting a solution to the problem. Over the last 30-odd years, IR has been suffering from a serious crisis of leadership, whereby the top posts of general managers (GMs) and above are filled up by officers primarily on the basis of their age profile, and less on merits. The younger an officer is at the time of joining service, better are his chances of reaching the top.

Let me elaborate. After the Gaisal accident (in which over 280 people were killed), a safety committee was set up under Justice HR Khanna in 1999. Apart from interacting with all stakeholders, they also sent a questionnaire containing 40 questions to the Railway Board. A meeting was held in the committee room under the then Chairman Railway Board (CRB) to draft out a reply to the questionnaire.