Month on, station director sans office

Mohit Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 25

It has been more than a month since the railway authorities appointed Hari Deep Kumar as the Station Director, but the official who holds the top post at the Chandigarh railway station does not have any office to issue orders from.

Providing office has led to a tug-of-war of sorts between junior and senior railway employees. Recently, Division Railway Manager (DRM) Dinesh Kumar had visited the railway station to locate a place where the office of Station Director could be shifted.

Sources said the DRM had asked some employees to exhibit courtesy and vacate their offices, so that the office of Station Director could be shifted. However, no employee agreed to shift the office. This led to an argument between senior and junior railway officials.

Sources said for nearly a month, Station Director Hari Deep Kumar is visiting the office of the Division Railway Manager (DRM) in Ambala or operating from the office of Station Superintendent TP Singh.

In the absence of an office, all decisions pertaining to the development of the Chandigarh railway station have been kept on hold. Passengers visiting the railway station are unaware about the appointment of the Station Director. Even today, Kumar visited Ambala. He said: “The process is in the pipeline and I will get an office soon,” said Hari Deep. He said: “The work for the construction of an office has begun at the staff residential quarters.”

However, railway union members said the staff residential quarters were located at a distance, but the office of the Station Director should be located on the station premises for the quick disbursal of issues faced by the passengers.“How, people will get to know about the office and powers of Station Director if he will sit at a distance. For effective control, the station director’s office should be located at the railway station,” said a member.