COVID Scare: Indian Railways lost 1,952 of its Employees

New Delhi: The Railways Ministry said on Monday that Indian Railways has lost 1,952 of its employees, including frontline staff like station masters, to the pandemic since last year, and now around 1,000 railwaymen are reporting affected on a daily basis.

Suneet Sharma, Chairman Railway Board said that as of now they have 4,000 beds currently occupied by staff and their families. Their effort is to see that they recover quickly. As of yesterday, 1,952 rail employees have died due to COVID-19 since March last year.

"Railway is not different from any other state or territory and we are also getting Covid cases… We have to move freight and people. Around 1,000 cases are reported daily. We have augmented the number of beds, we have built oxygen plants in rail hospitals. We take care of our staff…," he added.

According to the All Indian Station Masters' Association (AISMA), so far, 113 station masters have died in the pandemic, most of them in the second wave this year. The Railway Protection Force has so far lost 50 men.

In letters to Railway Board as well as several rail divisions, the association has demanded things like special insurance cover of Rs. 50 lakh for each of them, and immediate vaccination of their cadre. It has said that due to many station masters falling sick, the truncated staff has to work overtime, since stations cannot be left without station masters.

The largest commercial utility employer in India, Employees' Unions of the Railways, have cited that around 1 lakh employees have been struck by the virus during the pandemic, of which two-third have so far recovered.

Sunil Kumar, Secretary-General of AISMA, wrote in a letter to the Railway Board, "From the beginning of the pandemic and lockdown, we the Station Masters of Indian Railways and other Frontline Staff have been fighting as Corona Warriors and have rendered our services in moving the wheels of the Nation… But, we are sorry to inform that no office has given us any positive response."

The officials said that currently, the focus is on vaccinating the staff. In several zones and divisions, effort is on to vaccinate staff in batches through coordination with state governments.

"It is a top priority for us to get all our staff vaccinated. We are in constant coordination with the state governments," said S C Jain, Divisional Railway Manager, Delhi.

When vaccination opened for frontline workers, railway medical staff, as well as RPF personnel, got vaccinated. Other categories like ticket checkers, station masters, drivers, and guards were not included in that drive.

Also Read: 16 isolation coaches for COVID patients prepared at New Bongaigaon Railway junction

Also Watch: Devastating Fire in Chowk Bazar, over 300 shops gutted