DEMU train waits as loco pilot fails to turn up in time

S. SUNDAR

The DEMU train that was detained for over two hours at Virudhunagar railway station on Monday morning.

He was placed under suspension by the office of Divisional Railway Manager

A diesel-electric multiple unit (DEMU) train bound to Karaikudi was detained for more than two hours after the loco pilot, Abdul Jabbar, failed to turn up for work in time on Monday morning.

Railway sources said that when the passengers complained of no sign of the train leaving the station at the scheduled time of 6 a.m., they were told about the absence of the loco pilot. Meanwhile, when the information reached the officials in Madurai, a substitute loco pilot was deputed from Madurai.

However, he reached Virudhunagar late and the train could depart only at 8.15 a.m. Meanwhile, when Jabbar reported at the office of the Station Master, he was informed that he had been placed under suspension by the office of the Divisional Railway Manager.

Divisional secretary of the Union J.M. Rafi held talks with Divisional Railway Manager Sunil Kumar Garg, and pressed for revocation of the suspension order.

He complained that the railway officials had not responded to Jabbar’s complaint about the lack of basic amenities at the running room to enable him to have a sound sleep in the night so that he could start afresh the next day for the early morning duty.

Though the officials did not give him any reply to the complaint, he went to bed late in the night (where there were no mosquito net and no bed sheet). It was the duty of the railway department to wake him up at 4.30 a.m., but no one did so.

When he turned up for duty at 6.30 a.m., he was served the suspension order, Mr. Rafi said.

Passengers fumed over the manner in which the administration handled the workforce. The absence of loco pilot and the excuse by the railway union were not received well by them.