Central Railway, Western Railway and Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation being remote-controlled by officials in Jaipur and Delhi as top posts lie vacant.
The lifeline of the country’s financial capital that ferries 7 million (70 lakh) passengers and generates the highest revenue for the railway ministry has been running headless for about a month now.
This shows the apathy of the authorities towards Mumbai’s commuters. Sources said this is leading to delays in projects and missed deadlines.
The topmost posts in the Central Railway, the Western Railway and even the planning body — the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) — are vacant with officers from Jaipur and Delhi looking after affairs.
“Commuters in Mumbai will not get any new benefits, SOPs or services as it is customary in the railways to get the new projects inaugurated by the general manager, the topmost boss. He could bask in the glory of achievement and the officials in charge of such projects too get a pat on their backs,” said a retired official.
But with no top boss in Mumbai, all this seems to have stopped with no new offers for commuters.
It is not that the Indian Railways lacks good officials, but the tedious appointment process often gets stuck in red tape, leading to inevitable delays.
Western Railway has had no full-time general manager since January 31 after Ravindra Nath Verma retired. His post was being “looked after” after by Kul Bhushan, the general manager for Central Railway, who used to shuttle between the two offices at CST and Churchgate.
After Bhushan was promoted to the railway board in Delhi in August, he is “looking after” Central Railway from there. The Western Railway is now being “looked after” by RC Agarwal, general manager of North Western Railway.
The important post of MRVC, the body that is coordinating with more than 35 agencies on the World Bank-funded Mumbai Urban Transport Project, is also lying vacant. The post has been vacant since May 2011, with no full-time managing director.
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