The recent issue is the attendance system where these Guards have been asked to 'sign off' by the WR authorities at the end of the day.
The Guards on the Western Railway are threatening to stop doing their overtimes which could hurt punctuality of train services. These are the people who stand at the end of the train inside the motor cab and monitor suburban trains. The recent issue is the attendance system where these Guards have been asked to 'sign off' by the WR authorities at the end of the day.
Now, the Guards are unhappy about it who feel that it is being done to monitor their duty hours. The Guards claim that they are doing overtime to fill in the boots of the vacant posts and so that it does not hurt the suburban system. "We work for 8-9 hours by doing overtime. By making us do the sign-off, we will be forced to go to a station where systems are in place," said a guard on condition of anonymity.
They claim that the Guards after completing his duty, will have to go all the way to any of the 13 terminating stations where these punch-out machines have been fitted for sign-out. And so they are contemplating not doing the overtimes as it will further extend their day. On Monday, a meeting was supposed to take place in between the Unions and the authorities, but it did not happen.
However, WR authorities claim that the Guards are claiming overtime money by claiming to work double set. "An average work day is 6-7 hours and they work overtime for another 2-3 hours and not entire set," said a WR official.
There is a vacancy of around 90-100 posts of Guards on WR. The Railway board is already studying the possibility to remove this cadre completely on the suburban system. The National Railway Mazdoor Union had protested at CSMT on July 17.
Role of Guards is to ensure that during accidents, passengers get immediate attention for which the Guards inform the station master and Government Railway Police. This is apart from ensuring that the train and its passengers inside are safe. They also check if commuters have boarded and alighted the train, note down the timing of trains that arrives at a station, provide first-aid to injured commuters in cases of train halts; if there is a blast if a train is stranded or meets with an accident in the middle of nowhere, Guards inform authorities.
GUARDS PROTEST
- Guards on the WR are threatening to stop doing their overtimes which could hurt punctuality of train services
- The recent issue is the attendance system where these Guards have been asked to ‘sign off’ by authorities at the end of the day
- They are staying back after 9 hrs of work
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 "Western Railway")
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