Members of the Divisional Railway Users Consultative Committee (DRUCC) of Salem Division expressed disappointment at the postponement of the 23rd meeting, which was scheduled to be held on December 10.
In a communication to the DRUCC members, Secretary of DRUCC, Salem Division, and Senior Divisional Commerical Manager E. Harikrishnan wrote that the meeting was postponed as a precautionary measures in view of the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic condition [sic].” This scheduled 23rd meeting in Salem would have been the first meeting for the two-year period of January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021.
D.L.S. Rajendran from Mettupalayam said that the 22nd meeting was conducted by the Salem Division in 2019. The meeting was not held in 2020 amid the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. Various demands pertaining to the increase in train services to Mettupalayam and improvement of the infrastructure at Mettupalayam Railway Station would be taken to the attention of the railway authorities through this meeting, Mr. Rajendran said.
Another DRUCC member K. Jayaraj said that the report from these meetings would generally be presented to the Indian Railway Time Table Committee (IRTTC), who would analyse the demands present in the report and forward it to the Railway Board for further action. “We have several demands pertaining to trains for the Kongu region, which could be presented through the DRUCC meetings to get results,” he said. The Salem Division authorities must at least consider conducting the 23rd DRUCC meeting via videoconferencing, Mr. Jayaraj urged.
The physical meeting was deferred amid the looming threat of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 virus, the sources claimed, adding that efforts are under way to conduct a virtual meeting by the end of December.
