Funds allocated on massagers, crockery, AC for loco pilots’ safety: Railways on Congress’ ‘misuse of funds’ charge

Indian Railways on Sunday said funds from the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) are utilised strictly for safety-related expenditures. The Railways clarified that based on recommendations of the Safety Committee, it provided facilities and amenities like body massagers, foot massagers, air conditioning, etc. for loco pilots in running rooms.

This, the national carrier said, was done to provide loco pilots proper body rest and relieving stress while performing their duties. It also stated the loco pilots keep standing for hours on end. They go to the running room for mandatory break The Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) is a special fund created by the Centre in 2017 to ramp up railway safety. It further stated there is no provision to divert funds from one head to the other in Railways.

Indian Railways’ clarification came after Congress leader Jairam Ramesh cited a 2021 Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and accused the Railways of misusing these funds for purposes other than rail safety. These purposes included buying crockery, electrical appliances, foot massagers, furniture, winter jackets, escalators, computers, paying salaries and bonuses, developing gardens, building toilets and erecting a flag.

The CAG report resurfaced days after the triple train crash near the Bahanaga Bazar station Balasore that claimed the lives of 288 people and left over 1,100 others injured.

"Besides priority safety projects like civil engineering works, signalling, mechanical and electrical works, there is a clear provision for expenditure on reducing chances of human errors in critical areas of operations, by improving working conditions and training of safety-critical staff such as loco pilots, etc. At least Rs 1,861 crore has been provided for human resource development," the statement further said.

It also stated that these facilities have been provided entirely in keeping with the recommendations of the 2013 CAMTECH report, which was accepted in 2014. This was way before the RRSK fund came into existence, as per the Railways.

"Crockery, foot massager, winter jackets etc. were being provided based on a CAMTECH report of 2013, which was accepted in March 2014, and it was much before RRSK came into existence in 2017-18," it said. The Railways noted this expenditure is based on the set guidelines related to the upgradation of running rooms and training staff.

It added this expenditure is directly related to the safety of train running. It said, "Hence, they are not fripperies and are part of the mandate".

(With inputs from Suryagni Roy)

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