While Twitter has today become a channel for passengers to reach out to the Railways, officials monitoring social media are far from happy, as they have to follow up on every tweet and sometimes arrange nappies and milk bottles.
Officials across various departments claim that they are not able to concentrate on their actual work as they constantly keep receiving messages from their senior officers.
Since Suresh Prabhu took over as Railway Minister, Twitter has become as one of the important tools for passengers to get help from railway authorities. Twitter is used by the passengers for every single problem ranging from dirty toilets at stations and trains to requests for diapers for kids travelling on a long distance trains in remote parts of the country.
This has made officials upset as they have to continuously look out for social media messages and ensure they provide services and help passengers without fail.
An official from Western Railway said, “For any passenger, this is just a tweet, but we have to ensure feedback is given for every single tweet and chat on different social media platforms. This is a time-consuming process and we cannot skip or ignore a single tweet related to the department.”
In most cases, a reply is sent in just three to five minutes, and deputed staff from the department follow up to ensure that the passenger gets the assistance asked for.
The Railways Twitter account is handled mainly by a team of three people at the Railway Board, New Delhi, working out of the fourth floor of the Ministry of Railways building.
The team members are Anant Swarup, Executive Director (Public Grievances), Hanish Yadav, Officer on Special Duty (OSD), and Ved Prakash, Director (Information and Publicity).
This team reacts as soon as any tweet is received and they make sure that each and every tweet is be replied to with proper details. However, it is not only the team, but the minister too who monitors the tweets and activities happening on social media.
“We have to be updated about developments, including major tweets of the day as the Minister asks about it any time during the day and checks the reply given to particular tweets. This makes us work more promptly and accurately,” said an official from the Railway Board. He has the responsibility to handle tweets, receive feedback from the passengers and act upon it.
Though the Minister is happy with the kind of work this team is doing on social media platforms, senior railway officials from the various departments are not too pleased.
A Central Railway official said that understanding priorities is important and that ensuring that diapers are provided for kids in trains should not be a part of their job.
A challenge
“Providing any medical assistance at a time of any emergency should be done on a priority basis. Else, finding a balance between work and managing social media will become a challenge,” the official said.
When we contacted the Railway Board officials claimed that there were few cases of milk and diapers being sought. A senior Railway Board member said, “The maximum tweets are for the overcharging, water, light and delay of trains etc. If some officers think that this the not their responsibility and only clearing files is their duty then they are in the wrong organisation. We are for providing customer satisfaction. Some officials do not want to get out of their comfort zones and complain when made to.”
Mr. Swarup told The Hindu, “This is the change we wanted to see in Railways, that the organisation is sensitive to the needs of passengers and more customer-centric and service-orientated, rather than [being seen as] as a government organisation.”
