Rahul Gandhi highlights the plight of train drivers and says, “The INDIA bloc will raise its voice in Parliament to improve their rights and working conditions” (Watch video)

New Delhi, July 7: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Sunday highlighted the plight of train drivers and assured that the INDIA bloc in Parliament would raise its voice to improve their rights and working conditions. Gandhi’s remarks on X came as he released a video of his recent encounter with train drivers at New Delhi railway station.

“Under Narendra Modi’s government, the lives of train drivers have gone completely out of control,” the former Congress leader said. He said train drivers are forced to work 16 hours a day in sweltering hot cabins. “The people on whom millions of lives depend have no confidence in their own lives. Train drivers do not have even the most basic amenities like urinals, no limit on working hours and no holidays. Due to this, they break down physically and mentally and fall ill,” Gandhi said in his post in Hindi. Rahul Gandhi meets with Indian Railways train drivers in Delhi. They complain about “inadequate rest due to staff shortages” (see pictures).

In such a situation, it is putting their lives and those of passengers at risk if train drivers are forced to drive trains, he said. The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will raise its voice in Parliament to improve the rights and working conditions of train drivers, Gandhi assured. “If you see this small discussion, you can also feel their pain,” Gandhi said as he shared the video of the discussion. In the video, train drivers complain to Gandhi about lack of rest, no leave and “inhuman working conditions”.

The South Zone president of the All India Loco Running Staff Association on Saturday had the train drivers hand over a memorandum to Gandhi blaming poor working conditions for the recent train accidents. R. Kumaresan, who played a key role in organising the discussion between the former Congress president and the train drivers at New Delhi railway station on Friday, told PTI that they wanted to draw Gandhi’s attention to “serious safety issues” faced by train drivers and passengers.

The train drivers’ unions have also refuted the railway company’s claim that Gandhi met train drivers who were not from the Delhi division and were brought from outside. After Gandhi visited the train drivers’ hall at New Delhi railway station on Friday, the public relations head of Northern Railway, which oversees the Delhi division, said it looked like Gandhi met train drivers who were not from the New Delhi railway station’s hall. Mass panic in Hathras: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi writes to Prime Minister Yogi Adityanath about the mass panic incident during Bhole Baba’s satsang and demands higher compensation for the families of the victims.

Rahul Gandhi meets Indian Railways train drivers in Delhi

Gandhi had met a group of train drivers on Friday who were complaining about “inadequate rest periods due to staff shortages.” Gandhi had assured them that he would raise their problems in Parliament. He had met around 50 train drivers from across India at New Delhi railway station and they had explained their problems to him, party sources said. The train drivers had complained above all about inadequate rest periods, they said.