The action was, however, later revoked.
"The action was taken against the senior clerk Anjali Tiwari posted at Bhilai (in Durg district) on January 17. Later, it was cancelled," a railway official told PTI here.
On January 15, Tiwari, appointed in the Railways under the cultural quota, was asked to prepare a few duet songs to be sung with General Manager, SECR, Satyendra Kumar at a get-together function.
During the function at Raipur on January 16, Tiwari refused to sing another song on stage after singing the first one.
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As per the order issued by DRM Raipur, "During the program on 16/1/17, when the General Manager SECR expressed his desire to sing one particular song, Anjali Tiwari flatly refused to sing the duet song under the pretext that she has not come prepared to sing the song.
Being an employee appointed under cultural quota, she is not supposed to refuse to perform when instructions were given to her by the DRM/R. This shows her casual/ irresponsible attitude towards her work. She thus committed a gross misconduct and failed to maintain absolute devotion towards duty."
However, when the GM Kumar learnt about the action, he immediately asked the concerned official to cancel it, and also ordered a probe into the action taken against her, said the railway official.
Meanwhile, a relative of Tiwari's reportedly told a local news channel that she was asked to sing at late night program after she had worked through the day.
"She was at office right from 10 am till 2 am (early next morning). General Manager asked her to sing a particular old song, which she had not prepared. When she said that she was not prepared, they took offence," her relative said.