Indian Railways ends appointment of TADK, Bungalow Peon

Policy of Appointment of TADK on the Railways: 01/12/2020

RBE 102/2020: Vide Railway Board Letter No. E(NG)II/2020/SB/5, dated 01.12.2020, Railway Board has issued policy letter for appointment of TADK on the Railways.

• Engagement of fresh face substitute as TADK is discontinued with effect from 06.08.2020.
• Existing posts and incumbent TADKs will continue…
• TADK posts may be filled by regular Railway employees…

For more detail & latest policy letter on TADK…

Policy on TADK/Bungalow Peon –RBE 102/2020 dated 01/12/2020

Immediate stop on appointment of TADK

In reply of an un-starred question in Lok Sabha, the Minister of Railways submitted that The Ministry of Railways has stopped appointment of TADK with immediate effect vide its order dated 06.08.2020. 

Now, officers of Indian Railways will not have facility of appointing Telephone Attendant-cum-Dak Khalasis (TADKs).

Reply submitted by the Railway Minister in Lok Sabha

Un-starred question no. 1645 of Lok Sabha, answered by Minister of Railways on 21.09.2020 as follows…

• READ HERE original reply submitted by the Minister of Railway

Duties of TADK in Railway, Bungalow Peons

• Railway officers have to work round the clock i.e. 24 X 7 X 365 days, hence assistance is required like personal assistant, helper and caretaker.
• TADKs assist officials to whom they are attached.
• Their duties include attending to calls,
  • recording movement of dak/files,
  • assisting an officer in camp office, and
  • doing official duties related to breakdowns, disaster management, field inspections and other line duties
• To attend the telephones of officers at their residence.
• To work as Dak khalasi for delivering letters and parcel posts to other offices.
• Assisting officers in various office works at home.
• Managing the camp offices at officer’s residence.
• The TADK assists him in not only sorting out the papers, but also run to control offices to deliver positions. They deliver the control positions on time to the houses of other officers & supervisors also.

Policy of Appointment of TADK: RBE No. 64/2020

Vide Railway Board’s letter No. E(NG)II/2008/SB/19/BP/TADK/Pt. A, dated 06.08.2020, Railway board issued order on “Policy of Appointment of TADK on the Railways”. This order was to completely ban the appointment of bungalow peons in railways in future.

As per RBE No. 64/2020: The issue regarding appointment of TADK is under review in Railway Board. It has, therefore, been decided that any appointment of fresh face substitutes as TADK should not either be processed or made with immediate effect. Further, all cases approved for such appointments since 1st July 2020 may be reviewed and position advised to Board. This may be complied with strictly in all Railway establishments.

Officer associations represented against the ban on Bungalow peons. And requested Railway board to restore the facility of TADK as per existing practice.

FACT: As on date.There are 4227 Telephone Attendant cum Dak Khalasis (TADK)/Bungalow peons working in Indian Railways

FROA wrote to CEO & CRB for Retention of TADK/ Bungalow Peon

The proposed review of the present selection process of TADK has led to sense of anguish and apprehension amongst the officers fraternity. Zonal federations have requested to continue with the existing system

• Letter for retention of TADK Facility 10.08.2020

FROA in its letter to CEO & CRB, requested that the present system of selection of TADKs has been in vogue since long and has several inherent advantages. A TADK selected through the officer concerned imparts a sense of safety, confidence, trust and privacy for the families of the officers.

FROA further mentioned that, this issue should hence be seen not only from the point of view of officers, but also of the welfare and security of their families during course of discharge of officers duties. Moreover, similar selection procedure already exists in several Judicial and Civil administrations.

Representation submitted by South Central Railway officer’s Association

SCROA wrote letter to Chairman of Railway Board to withdraw the letter dated 06.08.2020. Association further requested to restore the facility without making any changes in the engagement process of TADK.

• READ HERE original letter of SCROA.

SUB: Policy on appointment of TADK facility attached to the Railway officers.

Ref:  No. RBE No.64/2020: letter no-E (NG)II/2008/SB/19/BP/TADK/Pt. A dt. 06.08.2020.

With reference to above, Railway officers are deeply shocked and anguished over the sudden decision of Railway Board stopping the facility of TADK/Bungalow peon. In this regard, a virtual meeting was held on 07.08.2020 and officers associations have passed the following resolution.

1. Railway officers, due to the nature of their duties, have to work round the clock i.e. 24 X 7 X 365 days and most of the times, they have to be in the field, i.e. away from their family, either for restoration of works, which are related to safety of the train operations or for commissioning of new projects/works.
2. Due to round the clock duties, they are not in a position to provide adequate support at their home front. To mitigate the officer’s sufferings to some extent, the facility of TADK has been provided and the system is functioning very smoothly to the satisfaction of the officer availing the facility.
3. Strong misconceptions exist among various persons regarding TADK facility for the Railway officers with the thoughts of British legacy and luxury etc., A Proper understanding of Railway working system can only enable person to appreciate and understand the real necessity of extending this facility.
4. The present policy of engagement of TADK is also quite streamlined. Since the officers are away from the family members, especially children, a person, with whom the officer is having the trust & confidence only, can be engaged and any change in the existing system will definitely have devastating effect on the family members of the officers.
5. Besides this, TADK (Bungalow peons) are SSC qualified and being selected after due verification process of personnel branch and also being inducted in the main stream i.e various departments of Railways in safety category. These TADKs will have at least 4 to 5 yrs of general experience in railway working. Past experience shows that These TADKs are more loyal towards Railway and having feeling of Railway family.
6. Already, one major decision of merging the cadre of all the Railway services has been taken as a part of ambitious  transformation to bring all the services under one umbrella .i.e. Indian Railways Management Service (IRMS) amidst many apprehensions and officers have not come back to normalcy. That being reality, another decision has been taken unilaterally, without understanding the field necessity of the officers, to abolish the practice of engaging TADK, which is highly  demoralising and dampening the working spirit of the officer’s fraternity.
7. The facility of the TADK is a minor one when comparing the sacrifices being made by the Railway officers. In fact, there is a demand to extend this facility to all the officers, including Assistant /Junior & Senior scale also, since they also sacrifice similarly.
8. Every Railway official understands the dire need of the austerity measures in view the financial conditions arisen owing to Covid-19 pandemic and they are sweating a lot to bring the system out of the dire straits. At this stage, stopping this kind of trivial things not only paralyses the officers which will have impact on the administration.
9. Revenue enhancement and expenditure control can be brought into the system by adopting right suggestions emanating from field, streamlining the procedures and right sizing of the organisation. But, taking up such paltry and unilateral measures have deep impact on officer’s performance and eventually have adverse impact on train working.
10. The nature of TADK job involves the close interaction with family members of the officer concerned. Hence, the selection process should involve the respective officer as the selected candidate should be loyal and trust worthy while discharging his duties.
11. Misuse of TADK facilities like other facilities not only by the Railway officials but by other officials is a matter of concern, and is individual choice. Such instances flared up in past in Railways, and for this concern officials have been suitably punished under well established DAR rules.  This type of act by some individual officials   cannot be cited as a reason to curtail the privilege to entire fraternity. Most importantly, rules can be further formed or strengthen to curb such type of wrong practices by the wrong doers. In this regard suggestions may be sought from the officer fraternity.
12. Finally, Railway services are provided with meagre privilege/facilities like Bungalow peon/TADK service and Pass. These are only minor privileges where talented aspirants in the market are looking at joining in the Railway services.

Under the circumstances, Railway Board is requested to restore the facility without making any changes in the engagement process of TADK, which will boost the morale of the officer’s fraternity, who are always dedicating their life and services to the betterment of the Railway Organisation.

Submitted   for the   kind consideration please.

President/SCROA

REPRESENTATION SUBMITTED BY EAST CENTRAL RAILWAY OFFICERS ASSOCIATION

Vide letter No. ECROA/2020/Aug-1, Dated: 07.08.2020, ECROA, Hajipur wrote letter to the Chairmen of Railway Board for continuation of existing appointment policy of TADK.

• READ HERE original letter of ECROA.

Sub: Continuation of existing appointment policy of TADK on the Railways.

 Officers of ECR have represented and protested against unilateral change in subject matter circulated vide above referred letter. The issues in details are as below:-

1. Unlike other Central Government offices, nature of the job in Railways warrants availability of officers 24x7x365 & they are required to be on toe on most of the time. It can be illustrated as below:

• Review of previous day’s performance is presented to the Railway officer in the form of morning position.
• Co- ordination has to be done with control, officers in the field, supervisors in the frontline and colleagues for the residual problems of the previous day and to plan for the present day otherwise train operations will come to a grinding halt in a matter of days. This entire activity is performed on Railway Telephone, DOT Telephone and now also on the Mobile & may last well above two hours on a normal day.
• The TADK assists him in all this except in the use of mobile phones. In no other service such a requirement exists on a regular basis. Hence, TADK acts as a substitute to the requirements of camp office set-up. 

• The TADK assists him in not only sorting out the papers, but also run to control office for delivering and fetching papers & to the houses of other officers and supervisors for this purpose. He often serves the duties of errand for the officers.

• Railway operations are round the clock and need to be monitored accordingly. The TADK is an unavoidable help to the officer in this entire stretch of back-breaking work. That is the reason the TADK’s working hours are essentially intermittent, i.e. he is available for twelve hours during the day with the officer in the morning, in the afternoon and again in the evening with extended breaks in between. The railway officer, however, continues his work without any rest.

• Railway officer has to perform several duties in the night including inspections of stations, workshops, yards and trains along with travel on the footplate of a locomotive or on trolleys frequently as a specified assigned duty. He needs an assistant to carry his papers, measuring instruments and implements.
  • A Railway Officer is required to attend to accidents and mishaps including traffic disruptions caused by natural calamities and social unrests for which he often has to move at night and remain at site for days without a break, even foregoing sleep and rest. A TADK needs to travel with him to attend to not only the officer’s needs, but to act as a messenger on the spot, carry his papers and implements etc.  

 As illustrated above, such sudden and unilateral decisions without due consultation with the officer’s bodies, severely affects the morale and motivation of officers at the field level. Moreover, if this facility is withdrawn or nature changed, it may have adverse effect to the serving as well as bright prospective candidates to the Railway service. 

2. The present appointment policy regarding TADK is quite streamlined. Since TADK has to be with the officer all the time, hence element of personal choice is inevitable for the sake of trust. In case, other mode of selection is adopted then the assigned person may not be having trust of officer and may interfere officer’s work as well as personal affairs. Moreover, the existing system of absorption also renders TADK loyal as it instills sense of secure future for him, thereby maintaining his devotion for the system.
3. The selection of TADK is subject to official scrutiny at various levels in the Personnel Department and due care is always being taken before personal approval & sanction of GM. 
4. Appointment of TADK is a completely transparent system, if any malpractice is noticed, the same is investigated by Vigilance and there are instances when officers have been punished. 
5. The policy is in prevalence since a long time and serving well. Changing the policy at this time when COVID-19 pandemic is spreading gives a feeling of helplessness among officers. Therefore, it is requested to kindly recall the above mentioned letter and restore the previous practice. In case of any change, Officers’ Bodies and Association must be taken into confidence. 

     Submitted for kind consideration please. 

(K.D. Ralh)

President/ECROA & PCE/ECR

Representation submitted by other officer associations

NWROA mentioned in his representation that, the decision taken vide letter referred above is a retrograde step. If this facility is withdrawn or mode of selection is changed then it shall have adverse impact on 24* 7 availability and efficient discharge of the duty by the officers which in turn shall affect the performance of Railways.

The nature of the Job of a TADK spreads into the most private space of the officer. Personal selection ensures that the officer and his family are most comfortable with the individual who has been appointed.

Any previously unknown appointee may not be in concordance with the concerned officer and may not extend the sense of safety and security of the family. As such it would ultimately lose the very functional utility of the TADK. It is also a time verified fact that the TADKs who have been absorbed after their tenure are highly sought after in the field as they are more disciplined, productive and assimilating. This is because they are chosen after due scrutiny based on their most sincere psychological attitude for their duties and rigorously trained for their future job personally by the officer concerned and therefore well acquainted to discharge Railway duties.

It is pertinent to mention that selection of TADK is not an arbitrary procedure, rather there are clearly laid down guidelines including eligibility criteria with completely transparent system.

• READ HERE Representation submitted by NWROA in detail

Representations submitted by RDSO officer association

Officers of RDSO are agitated on this unilateral change in above mentioned policy. A meeting of Officers’ Association of RDSO was held today and issues regarding TADK were discussed in detail. The following resolution has been passed:

1. Such sudden and unilateral decisions without due consultation with the officer’s bodies, severely affects the morale and motivation of officers. Moreover, it is one of the attractions of the aspirants to join Railway services on preference. If this facility is withdrawn or nature changes, it may have adverse effects on the serving as well as bright prospective candidates to the Railway service.
2. The present policy regarding TADK is quite streamlined. The person of officer’s choice is being kept at the house. In case, another mode of selection is adopted then the assigned person may not be having trust of the officer and may interfere with the officers work as well as personal affairs and there is a huge chance of the officers family getting suffered.
3. The selection of TADK is subject to official scrutiny at various levels in the Personnel Department and due care is always being taken before personal approval and sanction of GM.
4. It is a completely transparent system, if any malpractice is noticed, same are being investigated by Vigilance and there are instances when officers are punished.
5. The policy has been in prevalence since a long time and serves well, changing the policy at this time when COVID-19 pandemic is spreading is giving a kind of helplessness among officers. Therefore, it is requested to kindly recall the above mentioned letter and restore the previous practice. In case of any change, Officers’ Bodies and Association must be taken into confidence.
6. As confirmed by your good self that the entitlement of TADK will continue ‘as it is’ through whatsapp message, course correction of the wrong perception created in general public by publicity of above in Newspaper and Social Media, is needed and necessary rejoinder in this regard may also be issued at Railway Board level.

Submitted for kind consideration please.

• READ HERE Representation submitted by RDSO Officer Association in details

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