In a massive reshuffle in the Indian Railways, 35 Divisional Railway Managers (DRM) have been transferred from one zone to another across the country. There are 70 divisions and each is headed by a DRM.
The transfer orders were issued on Saturday. Bhartesh Kumar Jain from the South Eastern Railway has now been posted as the DRM of the South Central Railway, Secunderabad division. Eerya Bhukya Vishwanath from the South Central Railway has been transferred and posted as the DRM, Southern Railway, Chennai division.
A railway spokesperson said that DRMs had a tenure of two years and were periodically transferred. “Because we cannot transfer all 70 DRMs in one go, they are transferred in batches,” the spokesperson said.
The string of transfers follow the Balasore train accident that occurred under South Eastern Railways watch on June 2, which left 291 persons dead and over a 1,000 injured.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has sent three accused staff — Senior Section Engineer (Signal) Arun Kumar Mahanta, Section Engineer Mohammad Amir Khan and Technician Pappu Kumar — to judicial custody. However, the Commissioner of Railway Safety had mentioned in the probe report that the responsibility of handling the maintenance work, and wiring should not have been left to field staff without supervision.
The accident also highlighted the need for a vigilant supervisory staff which can enforce “a culture of safety,” in the Railways.
A DRM is the administrative head and chief executive officer of the division. He is in overall charge of day-to-day train operations, maintenance of tracks, locomotives, coaches, wagons, station buildings and other fixed assets within the jurisdiction of the division. A DRM reports to the General Manager of the zone under which his division falls. There are a total of 19 zones in the Indian Railway System.
