As if the latest accident under South East Central Railway (SECR) wasn’t enough, the case of alleged harassment of a woman colleague by General Manager of the zone Satender Kumar has put the Railway top brass in a fix. For, even as the Railway Board was taking a lenient view given that Kumar retires on January 31, the Chhattisgarh Women Commission has gone ahead taking suo moto cognizance of his “act”.
Kumar sanctioned disciplinary action against senior clerk Anjali Tiwari for refusing to sing a duet with him during a rehearsal programme in Raipur Division on January 16. Kumar held her refusal as ‘gross misconduct’.
“Action may be taken in this regard and she should be debarred from all the cultural programme of Raipur Division, and she should not even be sent outside the division,” Kumar said in the order. Anjali had refused to sing a particular duet saying she had not come prepared for it. Sources said the request from the gathered senior officials was for a famous Bollywood number “Mujhe Neend Na Aaye….” The cultural programme was being organized as part of the farewell programme of Kumar.
“What action do we take against a man retiring in few daysIJ However the Railway Minister and Chairman Railway Board both of them are very much disturbed,” defended a senior railway official. The Hirkhand train accident which claimed 39 lives falls under the operations zone of GM SECR.
This is not the first case against Kumar, an Indian Railway Signals Officer. He was chargesheeted for a similar conduct during his tenure at RITES, a railway subsidiary.
Following the intervention of the commission, Anjali’s services have been restored for the same posting.