Fight against Trichy society Corruption.

Railway unions fight over corruption charges

TRICHY: Members of the Southern Railway Mazdoor Union (SRMU) and Dakshin Railway Employees Union (DREU) almost came to blows as both of them traded allegations against each other in Trichy on Monday.

SRMU said its board had called for a meeting to inform the members of the achievements of the union and also to distribute dividends to the shareholders in the society. When the meeting was in progress, about 300 members of the rival DREU headed by its general secretary A Janakiraman tried to enter the society's premises. Sensing trouble, the police force present at the site denied them entry. The CITU-controlled DREU members retaliated by squatting on the road in front the society and the traffic was brought to a halt for about half-an-hour.

Janakiraman told TOI that his union had already obtained permission from the police to hold a demonstration demanding a CBI inquiry into the disproportionate properties, malpractices, corruption of all the present and the retired board of directors of the Railway Employees Co-operative Society Ltd, Chennai. He also charged that the SRMU was deliberately holding a meeting inside the society premises to thwart their attempts. "We would have held our demonstrations right inside the society premises, but the police hand-in-glove with the cash-rich SRMU stopped us at the gate, leaving us with no other alterative but to squat on the road," Janakiraman said.

The union alleged that about 40 peons (Class IV staff called as attendants) had been arbitrarily appointed by the board of society's directors by collecting amounts ranging from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 7 lakh per candidate in 2009-10. Now, the board had purchased a land at a cost of Rs 5 crore for the construction of the twin marriage hall, and maintained accounts as though they had purchased at a price of Rs 13 crore, Janakiraman alleged.

However, the chairman of Southern Railway Cooperative Society C A Rajasridhar told TOI that the DREU was fishing in troubles waters as the next election to the board was slated to be held in December 2012. Rajasridhar, who has been at the helm of the society affairs for the last 15 years, said he was doing his best in the interest of the workers. He claimed that the society under his able leadership had saved Rs 13 crore to build a twin marriage hall near the Trichy Central Bus Stand, to be let out to the workers at a nominal rate.