Tejas, the first private train of Indian Railways, is in discussion about its speed, look and features but the cabin crew and attendants working in it are very upset. They are extremely angry with the 18-hour job, harassment & molestation done by passengers and staff and getting late salary. Meanwhile, more than a dozen cabin crew and attendants have been removed from their jobs without notice. Now these youth are upset and are asking for help from Railway Minister and IRCTC by tweeting. But nobody is listening to them. At the same time, the private firm appointed by them is also not giving the reason for being sacked.
Removed from job without notice
The Tejas train started running between Lucknow and Delhi from October 4. IRCTC is operating it. But hospitality is the responsibility of Vrindavan Food Products (RK Associates) ‘. It is associated with IRCTC as a private contractor. This firm hired more than 40 boys and girls as cabin crew and attendants. But, within a month, 20 were removed, of which about a dozen are girls. At the same time, after waiting for several days, they were given salary but were not allowed to work again. Through Tejas, their dream of a golden future in the field of hospitality was shattered in just a few days.
HR of Vrindavan Food Pradeep Singh says that no one has been removed from their job. As soon as the second Tejas train runs or the bogies are increased in this train, then we will include these employees. At the same time, the complaint of misbehavior has not reached anyone. If it reaches, they will inform the management and get it checked.
’18 hours of duty, had to work even in bad health’
Tejas’s staff told that they were made to work for 18 hours every day and in the meantime they were not even allowed to rest in the rest room. Avantika Singh, who was the manager of Tejas, told that she was working there since the beginning of Tejas, more than a dozen cabin crew members were working under her. Most of them were removed after Diwali with them. When she asked the reason for the removal, she was told that it was their bad performance for their removal. Avantika says that they were all on probation period, but in the offer letter they received from Vrindavan Foods, a month notice was given.
At the same time, removed crew member Prachi Patel said that initially she was not told that she would be given an 18-hour job. Her duty used to start at 5 am and she reach her home after 10 pm. she was told that in the beginning the work is more, later it will be less. Prachi told that once she got so tired that she fell into the train after being dizzy. she was admitted to a private hospital in Kanpur, when she regained consciousness, instead of being discharged, she was called back on duty the next day. She was surprised to see such inhuman behavior. At the same time, the removed attendant Vishal Kumar said that he had suffered blisters in his feet while on duty and when he informed this to the senior management, he was told not to come on the job from the next day.
Passengers used to take selfies, staff used to molest
In Tejas, the female cabin crew is also being called train hostess. Their dress up is like air hostess. From the very early days of Tejas, reports of forcible selfies and comments were constantly made by the passengers, after which the IRCTC was told that the officials would take feedback from the hostess about the behavior of the passengers. Based on this, the rules will be made to deal with mischievous passengers. But this has not happened yet.
Penalty for no makeup
Another crew member Namrata Mishra, who was removed, told that senior attendants of the second train would called the new attendants to train initially. These attendants also drunk alcohol several times and molested the female cabin crew. When she opposed it, the matter was deferred by saying that action was taken. Apart from this, senior managers used to charge fine from the cabin crew on small things like not doing makeup properly. These managers were also hired by Vrindavan Food.
Information was given to IRCTC
Cabin crew Vaishnavi Singh said that when she complained to IRCTC Chief Regional Manager Ashwini Srivastava about the constant molestation and long duty hours, she was told that they will resolve the matter as soon as possible but no solution was found. Rather, she was removed from her job within a few days. There was also staff from Vrindavan Food and RK Meals in the train, due to which all the crew members complained but there was no impact.
Existing crew members too upset, want solution
About 30 crew members and attendants are still working in Tejas. On the condition of anonymity, a crew member said that the work pressure has increased after reducing the staff and when you complain about it to the management, then they are told that all the people will be removed as well. The rest of the crew members are not able to resist for the sake of saving jobs. She wants her duty hours to be reduced and to get salary on time.
There is adultration in water and food quality
On the condition of anonymity, a crew member also told that the quality of water and food is also compromised in Tejas. instead of mineral water bottle, plain water is often given to the passengers in bottles. All this happens in front of management people.
Now IRCTC is losing its edge
Talking to media, IRCTC Chief Regional Manager Ashwini Srivastava said that he is not aware of why more than a dozen cabin crew were removed. He asked to contact Siddharth Singh, the PRO of IRCTC. When media spoke to Siddharth Singh, he told that the decision to remove the crew member and attendant is from the private firm (Vrindavan Food Products) and not IRCTC. As far as their information is concerned, the organization had initially hired more crew members and attendants. While some coaches in Tejas have also been reduced since Diwali, perhaps due to this, the organization has started feeling that they have more staff. At the same time, media tried to contact Vrindavan Food Products but did not got any response at the moment.
Before also this firm has been in dispute
‘Private contractor Vrindavan Food associated with IRCTC has been engulfed in controversies before. In fact, recently, this firm had put out an advertisement for the recruitment of 100 male candidates. The most surprising thing about the advertisement was that this advertisement only talks about recruiting candidates for Agarwal and Vaishya community. However, the firm withdrew the advertisement following protests on social media.
Know about Tejas train
Tejas Express is the first private train in the country. This train starts from Lucknow at 6.05 in the morning and reaches New Delhi at 12.35. At the same time, opening from New Delhi at 3.35 pm, reaches Lucknow at 10.05 pm on the same day. This train runs six days a week. The train has features like a personal LCD entertainment-cum-information screen, on board Wi-Fi service, comfortable seats, mobile charging, personal reading lights, modular bio-restrooms, just like the aircraft.
On October 4, UP CM Yogi Adityanath flagged it off. Now the removal of cabin crew and problems with the existing staff has brought it into the circle of controversies.