After news spread around the suspension of housekeeping services on most Southern Railways trains, the Ministry of Railways has sanctioned last-minute payment to continue the services.
A letter was sent to all the divisions in Southern Railway on Thursday by the principal chief mechanical engineer, who stated that the order issued for keeping On Board Housekeeping Services (OBHS) had been withdrawn. “This is to advise that as a onetime measure Finance has agreed to clear the past bills as a special measure,” according to the letter. This was after the Southern Railway issued a directive on August 16, cancelling OBHS on over 70 trains operating in the section.
The Southern Railway also issued a clarification via its official Twitter handle that an ‘alarmist situation’ has been portrayed by the media regarding the cancellation of housekeeping services inside trains. “There was a funds mismatch issue, which has been sorted out and bills over Rs 50 crores are being processed for payment,” it said. Adding that the Southern Railway did not consider stopping OBHS at any stage, the clarification stated, “The OBHS, pest control, linen supply, toilet maintenance, etc., continue on all 110 identified trains.”
Southern Railway Clarifies on News Item figuring in the press dated 22.8.19 @RailMinIndia @DrmChennai @SalemDRM @DRMTPJ @drmmadurai @TVC138 @propgt14 pic.twitter.com/6oKtcEG9CV
— @GMSouthernrailway (@GMSRailway) August 22, 2019
The clarification and the release of funds comes after media reports stated that the cleaning services in trains operating under Southern Railway will be stopped from September 1 due to lack of funds to pay the contractors. In its letter to the Union government, the Railway Ministry had stated that the funds in hand were not sufficient to continue the services and that the existing amount would only be enough for payments until August-September 2019.
The emergency situation arose after the Ministry failed to respond to a request for cash infusion in last month’s meeting. The planned housekeeping services dropped due to cash crunch included change in linen, cleaning of coaches and pest control in trains.
Source: The News Minute