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Railway Board restructuring approved
Why in news?
- Union Cabinet approved restructuring of the Railway Board, including reduction in the Board strength & merging of different railway cadres into a central service - “Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS)”.
More in news
- Reasons for Restructuring: Help end “departmentalism”while ensuring the smooth working of Railways and expediting the decision-making process.
- The reforms include:
(1) Unification of the existing eight Group A services of the Railways into a Central Service - Indian Railway Management Service.
(2) Re-organisation of Railway Board on functional lines headed by CRB with four Members and some Independent Members.
(3) Renaming of Indian Railway Medical Service (IRMS) to be consequently renamed as Indian Railway Health Service (IRHS).
(4) Railway Board's strength will be cut from 8 to 5, while the eight railway-related wings will be merged into a IRMS.
- Board After Restructuring:
(1) Currently board consists of 8 members - Chairman,& members from different service departments - traffic, civil, mechanical, electrical and signal & telecom.
(2) Now it will consist of five members – Chairman, who will act as a CEO, along with four members responsible for infrastructure, operations and business development, rolling stock & finance.
(3) There will also be a DG (HR) under the Chairman.
(4) Board will also have some independent members, who will be highly distinguished professionals.
- Other things mentioned by Railways:
(1) Modalities and unification of the services will be worked out by Railway Ministry in consultation with DoPT with the approval of an ‘alternate mechanism’ to be appointed by the Cabinet in order to ensure fairness and transparency.
(2) Process shall be completed within a year.
(3) Upgradation of the 27 GMs working at zonal levels and various production and specialised units to apex grade, secretary level grade – highest in the government of India. We already have 10 secretary level posts in Indian Railways, 27 more will be added.
Sources
The Hindu