Metro staff demand action against emergency team member

A day after an emergency reaction team (ERT) member delayed Metro services, the BMRCL management was accused of going soft on him while suspending another employee for a “minor error”.

Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) executive director (Operation and Management) A S Shankar refuted the allegation, stating that an inquiry has been initiated and action
will be taken based on the report.

On Sunday, a member of the ERT team stopped a train between two stations and raised a “false alarm” over the operational fitness of the train. By the time a station controller reassured him to proceed, around 10 minutes were lost.

“There is no action against him since he belongs to the ERT. But a regular employee has been suspended within 24 hours of crossing the red-signal indicator at a station.
We want the management to stop this bias,” a member of BMRCL employees’ union said.

A senior BMRCL employe said that according to rules, the ERT member abandoned the train between stations. “If this had happened in
Delhi Metro, he would have been sacked immediately,” he said.

Shankar said unlike regular employees, the ERT member was operating the train as an additional work. “It is not his regular job. We will assess his responsibility and take action,” he said. Union members said the employee crossed the red signal at the end of the “dwelling time” (the period of waiting at a station) and was not aware of the situation created by ERT member.

“It’s a mistake. But it happened because of the situation created by the ERT member,” he said.