Parel outstation terminus: CR plan could face union roadblock position
National Railway Mazdoor Sangh (NRMU), one of the powerful labour unions on the zonal railway, has launched a fresh protest against the ₹700-crore terminus plan.
Central Railway’s (CR) proposal to develop a new outstation train terminus in place of the existing Parel Workshop, could hit a roadblock after being opposed by a railway union.
National Railway Mazdoor Sangh (NRMU), one of the powerful labour unions on the zonal railway, has launched a fresh protest against the ₹700-crore terminus plan. On Wednesday, NRMU protested outside the Parel Workshop to counter CR’s decision to transfer 715 vacant posts of various cadres to Badnera in Amravati, where CR has set up a workshop.
The union claimed that this move is part of a conspiracy to systematically shut the 140-year-old Parel Workshop. “We are strongly opposing the closing of the workshop and also oppose the transfer of the posts to Badenera,” said Venu Nair, general secretary of NRMU.
NRMU has also questioned the need for a seventh outstation terminus, when three outstation termini at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), Dadar, and Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) exist on CR; and at Mumbai Central, Dadar and Bandra Terminus on Western Railway (WR), located in less than a three-km radius.
“This abrupt decision has brought anguish to the staff and their families who reside in the adjoining railway colony,” said an NRMU functionary.
NRMU claimed that currently, 2,300 employees work at the Parel Workshop and the number of vacant posts is 1,200, of which 715 will be transferred.
CR, however, clarified that they are transferring only vacant posts and not the employees. “Not a single employee from Parel Workshop will be transferred,” said a CR spokesperson.
According to CR railway officials, if the union remains firm on its stand against the proposed Parel outstation train terminus, it could result in a delay in the plan, for which a budget has already been allocated.