Railways staff fudge attendance

A DTNext investigation has revealed that absentee employees, easily numbering a few dozen at Chennai Central alone, have been duping the management by rigging the attendance register (muster). Most of the ‘absentee’ employees are either members and functionaries of SRMU, the sole recognised union of the SR zone, or their ‘close’ associates. 

A detailed ‘audit’ of the muster at the transhipment office in Chennai Central where P R Sarangapani, divisional president of SRMU ‘works’ as the chief parcel supervisor has revealed that employees have been tampering with the muster entries for years with such precision that it did not attract official attention till recently. Details of the muster available since March last, (photographic evidence of which is available) shows employees have been so brazen, that on many occasions, they had not signed the register for days. Some failed to mark attendance for over three days, despite railway rules insisting on employees marking attendances before the end of one’s shift. 

The register shows chief supervisor Sarangapani (staff No: MM 10209), clerk Sasikala (staff No: MC 2463) and another Hemalatha (staff no: MC 1794) in particular had even ‘converted’ leave markings (marked as casual leave) to duty days before the closing date. In a particular instance, one of the clerks had absented from work on July 1, although attendance is mandatory as annual increments take effect from that day. Taking leave on July 1 will delay an employee’s increment by a month. However, the staff had revised it as working day. The commercial department could not sniff out the scam until recently as the musters were inaccessible to all but the eight staff at the transhipment office. Each of them draw a salary of Rs 60,000 a month.  This office, as this paper found, was largely unmanned even during peak hours in an otherwise crowded Chennai Central. Enquiries also revealed that the muster was always kept locked in a cupboard in a nondescript corner of the room but the staff there possess a key to access the muster. Officials have now removed the muster from the transhipment office. A divisional commercial manager and assistant commercial manager have conducted an official inquiry. Chief commercial manager of southern railway, Ajeet Saxena said, “We will investigate the matter. If we find any truth in it, strict action will be taken.”