Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday asked railway federations to come up with unique ideas on how to increase the railway revenue, reduce costs and improve freight share.
Goyal urged the leaders of the federations to ponder how Railways can overcome this crisis that is looming across the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an official release.
"He also asked railway federations to come up with unique ideas on how Railways revenue can be increased, costs minimised, freight share be improved and how the railways can move further and faster. He also asked all to think about the safety and welfare of existing employees. He stressed the collective effort required by Railways officers, unions and staff during this phase," it said.
The minister said, "From the highest to the lowest level, all officers and staff have sincerely performed their duties during the lockdown. Presently, Indian Railways is going through critical times due to the pandemic."
The Ministry of Railways conducted its first-ever online Workmen Sanghosthi in which representatives of Railways Worker's Unions participated from across the country.
This Workmen Sangosthi was attended by Piyush Goyal, Suresh C Angadi, Minister of State of Railways, VK Yadav, Chairman, Railway Board along with senior officers of Railway Board.
During the Sangosthi, office bearers of both the federations -- AIRF and NFIR, Rakhal Das Gupta, Gumman Singh, Shiv Gopal Mishra and Dr M Raghavaiah and other office-bearers of the federation presented their views.
In a unique move, the Railway Minister has sought crowdsourcing of ideas for boosting profitability and transformational changes from the railway employees.
"The heart of railway employees beats for the orgsation. They would be having ideas which can boost the profitability of Railways," Goyal said.
The minister directed the General Managers and Divisional Railway Managers to actively seek these ideas from the employees and transmit the same to the ministry.
Addressing the Sangosthi, Suresh C Angadi, Minister of State of Railways said that Indian Railways had never stopped in the last 167 years but it was stopped due to the pandemic. He congratulated the staff of Indian Railways for working as COVID-19 warriors.
During the Sangosthi, office-bearers of the federations highlighted the work done by Railway employees in challenging COVID-19 times and sought active engagement in the process of transformational changes sweeping the Railways.
Office-bearers of the Railway Unions said that Railway employees were standing with the ministry in its mission for the development of Railways. Improvement of efficiency and financial health is not only in the interest of the employees but of the nation. They said that Railway employees were capable of taking any responsibility for the same.
( With inputs from ANI )