Railways swears by this slogan.
Otherwise how can one justify the ever growing fleet of officers with hardly
any substantive work. Railway Board is full of officers, almost as many as the
rest of the federal ministries put together and the redundant bodies, the zonal
headquarters almost bursting at their seams with officers of all levels. The
fat is easily visible at disaster sites that bubble with over a dozen officers
above the levels of joint secretary who have no role except being present and
rendering unsolicited advice to the guys that work.
Supervision of almost everyone
has become the motto of the railways, an organization that has given the word “trust”
a go by. There is absolutely no trust anywhere in the system and the higher the
bloke in the hierarchy, the more prone he is to pass unsubstantiated value
judgements on any issue under the sun.
With hardly any substantive charge
to effect positive output, the only way the railway blokes can have any sense
of importance is by exercising negative powers. And therefore while the system hardly
has anyone who can deliver, it has layers and layers of officialdom who by a
stroke of their pen can stop things from happening. Negativity therefore flows
freely in the system and positivity is almost dead.
With hardly being able to contribute
positively to the system, the focus of the officialdom has shifted to seeking items
of self gratification at the cost of the organization and by browbeating the
juniors. Putrid it is to witness senior blokes committing impropriety, and impropriety it is without doubt.
What has the railways come to?
Perhaps the only solace lies in the realization that we are getting what the
majority of us deserve.
Moving slowly to disaster is the
best way to describe the situation.
Amen!
sir,
ReplyDeletei regularly read your views in this colomn. CME's conference was organised on 21st & 22nd May at the GM's Confenece hall at Baroda House, New Delhi.
It is very unlikely that any officer who had served in Delhi is unaware of the place. Escort duties were given to Sr supervisors of the Rly who were to receive them at station/ airport, then take them to their house/hotel, then take them to the conference hall, ensure service of tea, high tea, lunch & dinner for two days & tem drop them back to station/ airport. I feel it is a sheer wastage of men and money. for two complete days no office at delhi worked for Railway organisation. The supervisors feel humiliated and de-degnified. Each officer had brought their own staff of two or three men from their respective offices. The cost of all this was borne by railways and the return would be nil.
The top brass is guiding railways to well. Junior employee is not allowed to think for the organisation. Railway borad's officers are no exception. Zonal officers or the divisional officers all sail in the same boat that leads to simply obeying the directions. and the director does not know where the story line is going. He simply shoot for three hours- retire - take a job in undertaking/ concerns and earn huge assets with their links and let the organisation to its fate.
All the directives are given by officers and all the responsibilities vest with the non-officers. The enquiry officer, the disciplinary officer all are same or similar level officers and all penalties, punishments goes to the junior staff.
Why?
This is the system we all have to survive in.
Very few officers are like you. your capabilities are time proven. but what about your enemies. They are plenty and to find your route through is very very difficult.
Wishes are for railways to live long.
i sincerely appreciate what you have said and also your concern. reg enemies, i treat jealousy as the highest tribute that can be given by one man to another. the number of enemies is immaterial, but as they thrive on negativity, their commitment is zilch and therefore not worthy of being taken note of
Delete