35 Divisional Railway Managers transferred

35 DRMs transferred in Indian Railways reshuffle; each division headed by DRM; transfers follow Balasore train accident; DRMs have two-year tenure; transfers to enforce "culture of safety"; DRMs report to GM of zone.

In a massive reshuffle in the Indian Railways, 35 Divisional Railway Managers (DRM) have been transferred from one zone to another across the country. There are 70 divisions and each is headed by a DRM. 

The orders for the transfer were issued on Saturday. DRM of South Eastern Railway Bhartesh Kumar Jain has now been posted as the DRM of South Central Railway in Secunderabad. 

Similarly, DRM of South Central Railway Eerya Bhukya Vishwanath has been transferred and posted as DRM Southern Railway in Chennai. 

A railway spokesperson said that DRMs had a tenure of two years and were periodically transferred. “Because we cannot transfer all 70 DRMs in one go, they are transferred in batches,” the spokesperson said. 

The string of transfers follow the Balasore train accident that occurred under South Eastern Railways watch on June 2, which left 291 persons dead and over a 1,000 injured.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has sent three accused staff — Senior Section Engineer (Signal) Arun Kumar Mahanta, Section Engineer Mohammad Amir Khan and Technician Pappu Kumar — to judicial custody. However, the Commissioner of Railway Safety had mentioned in the probe report that the responsibility of handling the maintenance work, and wiring should not have been left to field staff without supervision.