Railway Board enlisting frontline staff for vaccination

The Railway Board (RB) has likely collected a list of railway employees prone to exposure to coronavirus in all the zones. A circular from Vinay Srivatsava, executive director (mechanical), frontline workers who are at a greater risk of exposure to COVID-19 infection in the department. In his January 8 dated letter, a copy of which is available with DT Next, the executive director instructed the mechanical department heads in all zones to send the report latest by January 11. 

The Board had even prescribed the format for the list, which consists of personal communication details of the vulnerable employees. 

A railway source unwilling to be quoted confirmed the receipt of a circular to this effect and said the Board has decided to include the frontline workers of the railway department for COVID-19 vaccination. The source also revealed that similar lists might be prepared for other departments like commercial departments where staff like ticket examining crew and collectors on board trains and stations as they are exposed to the people directly. 

A highly placed railway officer confirmed the receipt of the list from the divisions and said they had already collated the lists from divisions in the zone and sent them to the Board. A ballpark estimate suggests that close to 3,500 frontline workers in the zone could be subjected to vaccination as per the list.