The railways has terminated the practice of the Railway Board chairman holding concurrent charge of a functional member of the board.
Railway Board chairman C L Kaw who held additional charge as the member (traffic), thus gave up his additional responsibility. Kaw was the member (traffic) prior to becoming the chairman.
A new member (traffic) will thus be inducted to the board shortly. This also increases the size of the Board from six members to seven.
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The board will now have a separate member (traffic), in addition to existing members heading the engineering, railway staff, electrical and mechanical departments, besides the railways financial commissioner and the chairman.
The expanded Railway Board thus has an additional post now. A notification has been issued to give effect to the change.
The decision has been taken to enable the chairman to devote full time to his direct responsibilities as head of the Railway Board for proper coordination among the various departments.
The post of a functional member was combined with the chairmans post about five years ago as an austerity measure, but this arrangement has not worked because a major department suffers for want of full attention in the process.
The expanded Board is a counterpart of the public investment board for decisions on project investment worth Rs 50 crore and more.
A proposal which reaches Board level, thereafter goes directly to the cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA).