Rail officer makes labourers do his home chores instead of track work

The men in orange and khaki one sees every day along railway tracks come rain or shine to ensure tracks overhead cables and signals are all in working order are being made to do some extracurricular jobs The railway labourers called gangmen have complained that a certain railway officer often puts them on personal chores and make them do other menial jobs The gangmen also called khalasis have complained that a certain railway officer often puts them on personal chores and makes them do other menial jobs File pic In a complaint letter forwarded to divisional railway manager Mumbai Western Railway at Mumbai Central they allege that Jagdish Chaudhary who joined as the suburban senior divisional electrical engineer Sr DEE from Ratlam has been employing gangmen known as khalasis for carrying out his household work If sources are to be believed on January 13 Chaudhary asked a few gangmen to unload goods and furniture from a train stabled at Mumbai Central station At the time the labourers were supposed to be surveying tracks during the jumbo block on MahalaxmiSantacruz stretch ldquoDuring the block period the labourers were asked to unload goods from a coach into a truck and take it to Chaudharyrsquos residence at Badhwar Park in Colabardquo said K Gaikwad general secretary Maharashtra Navnirman Railway Kamgar Sena ldquoAt a time when we are seeing regular delays in train services and technical errors on tracks there was every need for these men to be working during the blockrdquo said a Western Railway employeeu00a0 12hr house shift Chaudhary also commanded two other gangmen Rajesh Kahar and Muneshwar Singh to do his household chores on two different occasions The complaint written by Kahar mentions that one of Chaudharyrsquos subordinates asked him to go to the Sr DEErsquos house in Badhwar Park by 930 am on January 1 where the officer asked him to ldquowipe the floor wash clothes and iron themrdquo The letter adds that the recently appointed officer asked Kahar to go to his house every morning at 8 to do odd jobs like drop his kids to school go to the market drop lunch at his office until 8 pm Kahar reported the incident to his superiors saying he was uncomfortable running Chaudharyrsquos domestic errands as it was not part of his job Later he was suspended for not following orders Divisional secretary of Western Railway Mazdoor Sangh Ajay Singh said ldquoI came to know of the issue from other members It is unfair to expect any gangman to do household work for an officer They are here to do government work not personal chores of an officerrdquo In another incident khalasi Muneshwar Singh was asked to go to Chaudharyrsquos house on January 10 for the same household routine He refused to comply and complained to the union DY Mahale divisional chairman Western Railway Employees Union WREU said ldquoWe received complaints about the incidents and asked the officials to recall the suspension orders of these gangmenrdquo The matter escalated to a level that on January 1516 union members met senior WR officials including the divisional railway manager and the additional divisional railway managers ADRMs On January 16 WREU and other unions also held meetings with the ADRMs and Sr DEE Chaudhary ldquoChaudhary has promised he would not make use of railway khalasis for his personal workrdquo said Gaikwad R Palande president Western Railway Staniya Lokadhikar Samiti said ldquoAsking the labourers to do personal work is wrong especially if it happens at the cost of maintenance of rail linesrdquo The other side J Chaudhary senior DEE suburban Western Railway said ldquoMost of these people who came to my house arenrsquot from recognised unionsrdquo ldquoIt is possible that these unions want to suppress the new officer in the division Why would anyone allow an outsider in their house to do house work which could be risky for the familyrdquo wondered a senior WR official