Members of All India Station Masters' Association stage a protest in Madurai on Tuesday.
| Photo Credit: G. MOORTHY
Members of All India Station Masters’ Association on Tuesday staged a protest against being forced to take up prolonged and excessive duty by the railway administration owing to acute shortage of manpower in Station Master category.The protest was led by the divisional president, P. Rajarajeswaran, and its secretary, K. Vagaiyadi Moorthi. Its former general secretary, P. Rajiv Gandhi, was present.The office-bearers submitted a memorandum to the administration complaining that out of the 572 posts of Station Masters in Madurai division, 70 posts were lying vacant.“Due to this severe shortage, most stations are under considerable operational strain, and Station Masters are being compelled to perform prolonged and excessive duties,” the memorandum said.With frequent movement and shunting of trains in Madurai junction, the duty put much stress on Station Masters. Hence, the administration had classified the nature of duty as intensive and only 36 hours of duty should be given to Station Masters.However, due to shortage of manpower, the SMs are being forced to work for 48 hours under continuous roster, which is against the prescribed safety norms.“The SMs are denied leave due to manpower shortage, causing hardship to them and also raising serious concerns regarding safety and efficiency,” the association said.With the current recruitment process for SMs likely to take at least eight months for filling up the vacancies, the association has demanded that till then the SMs should be compensated for the additional work with overtime allowance.AISMA also demanded that 12-hour duty given to SMs in 14 railway stations in the division that leads to fatigue and reduced efficiency should be abolished. All these SMs should be given only eight hour duty.The association also demanded night duty allowance for all cadres of SMs. Published - July 14, 2026 08:03 pm IST
