Title - Paucity of trackmen hits monsoon patrolling

At a time when heavy rain is taking its toll in the state, monsoon patrolling of the railways in the Thiruvananthapuram division is allegedly going awry.

According to Southern Railway Mazdoor Union divisional president P Unnikrishnan, heavy shortage of trackmen to undertake the work has affected the smooth examination of railway tracks.

Monsoon patrolling, which is undertaken from June to September, is a measure by the railways to ensure safe travel of passengers. It is done between 4 pm and 6 am.A trackman is supposed to ensure that the tracks do not develop cracks, jerks or is obstructed by a tree or soil. This is extremely essential in tracks like the Konkan railway routes where landslides are common.

“Due to staff paucity, sometimes we are forced to forgo checks in certain locations. A trackman in the division is forced to take up double or triple duty. On normal duty, a trackman has to examine more than 24 km on foot. It is almost impossible for a single person to do this much work,” sources with the railways said.The situation worsened this year, with the railway authorities employing trackmen as railway gatekeepers.

“The railways, in its quest to man unmanned level crossings, employed the existing trackmen as railway gatekeepers. This has increased vacancies in this sector,” the sources added.

Another reason for the crisis is SRMU employees’ strong disapproval of the recent decision to deploy 320 women for the patrolling.

“We have no issues for women taking up the job. However, in a place like Kerala, women doing night patrolling is completely unacceptable as it puts their safety at risk. Patrolling duty is needed, but more men should be deployed for the duty,” the sources said.