AILRSA Dharna at Chennai

CHENNAI, January 23, 2014

Loco pilots demand filling of vacancies

Special Correspondent

Around 200 loco running staff staged a dharna on Wednesday —Photo: R. Ragu

Loco pilots led by the All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA) on Wednesday staged a protest in front of Moore Market Complex demanding filling up of vacancies and implementation of the Railway Board directive on reducing Signal Passed at Danger (SPAD) accidents.

About 200 loco running staff from the Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchi, Salem, Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram divisions organised a dharna to protest the reluctance of the zonal administration to implement various Railway Board directives on betterment of working conditions such as reducing duty hours and night duty cycles.

According to AILRSA office-bearers, some of the instructions emanating from the zonal administration were contrary to SPAD directives of the Board.

The zonal administration also overlooked the fact that the appellate authority of the labour ministry for the Hours of Employment Rules (HOER) had upheld the nature of work of loco pilots manning passenger-carrying trains as ‘intensive’, they said.

Addressing the gathering, V.R. Prakash, AILRSA president, south zone, said during the delay in the implementation of work-related suggestions, the HOER norms submitted in August 2013 had become outdated and called for revising the recommendations on work nature classifications and duty hours.

V. Balachandran, AILRSA working president, Chennai, said the shortage of about 400 loco running staff resulting from sanctioning of fewer posts last year, compounded the situation of unfilled vacancies that was causing a 20 per cent shortage of train drivers.

K. Parthasarathy, joint zonal secretary said by remaining mute on the long-pending demands, the administration was forcing loco pilots to adopt more strident protests.