Nizam-era press closure triggers job loss fears

SECUNDERABAD: As the date of railway printing presses being shut down nears, there is unrest among employees and railway unions, who are claiming that 98% of travel is still done by unreserved tickets despite the upgradation of the ticketing system.
The decision has not gone down well with members of several railway unions and employees. Before the Nizam-era railway press in Secunderabad shuts down in March 2020, the printing press staff is not only expected to print extra tickets for creating a buffer but they need to employ more people on a temporary basis.
“Nearly 70% of the people working there are underqualified men, women and differently-abled people, and employees are finding it hard to find further employment. Until the digitisation of tickets reaches close to even 50%, there is no need to close down the printing presses,” a source told TOI. “Even at those nice presses which have already been shut down, the Machinery and Plant (M&P) stand in a dilapidated condition without any buyers. The land is also not in the best of locations to have enough takers,” he added.
Railway unions fear that this is another step towards privatisation of the Railways.
“Passenger Reservation System (PRS), Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) tickets and money value items should be continued in the above five printing presses till complete closure of the presses. The passes and the privilege ticket orders (PTOs) should be printed covering the requirements upto the year 2020-21. However all the printing activities should be stopped by March 31, 2020,” states the letter by the Railway Board to the general managers of Indian Railway (IR) zones in June 2019.
The statement talked about shutting down of five presses including the press at Secunderabad (South Central Railway), Central Railway press in Byculla, Howrah (Eastern Railway), Delhi (Northern Railway) and Chennai (Southern Railway).
“While maximum passengers using train services are not equipped to handle digital platforms, how will the railway suddenly stop printing paper tickets? A few private companies will get business worth several crores. We are still against this move,” K Sivakumar, divisional secretary, SCR Mazdoor union told TOI.
According to the employees in distress, the major chunk of travel is done in the unreserved category where passengers are issued tickets manually.
Across the country, more than 340 crore unreserved tickets are being issued annually, which means 10 lakh tickets are being issued per day.