Dear Shubhranshu,
Thanks a lot for the mail. I read all the letters with great interest and agree completely with all of them. I do hope that there are a sufficient number of right-thinking Railwaymen who have the strength of conviction to stand up to injustice and manipulations.
I shall send a hard-copy of a letter that I shall draft for the attention of the Minister of Railways. For whatever it is worth, I intend also sending a copy of the letter to the PM’s office. I only hope this does not go against Mr. Virdi’s cause. I shall send you a scanned copy of the letter separately.
Thanks for responding so promptly and with kind regards,
Vinay
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Dear Vinay,
It was nice to receive your mail. Sunil Bajpai often speaks of you and in glowing terms. He is a dear friend of mine too.
You have expressed your anguish in very powerful words. I am, however, surprised at the indifference and apathy with which most railway officers have come to accept such despicable acts. It is probably now a foregone conclusion that most top level postings will be driven by pelf and machinations, unless drastic surgery is done. Who will do it? I do not know. What exactly needs to be done? I do not know. But, I have reacted to these events and exhorted those in power to do something at great peril to my own career. I am now certain that I will be blocked in my career sooner than later. My wife, though, keeps encouraging me to fight for the cause and not to be too mindful of my career, which in any case if calls for money, will not come my way.
I am giving the links to three of my letters that I wrote in recent months/days. If you take time to read them, you will get a fairly good idea of what is wrong and what you must write in your communication to the Minister.
The minister will never read an email. So it would be advisable to write on paper and mail it to him. Even then, I doubt it will go past his secretary. But try we must. I also request you to be as open and frank as you have been in the mail to me and speak your mind, which I am sure you intend to do.
I shall be obliged if you email the contents of your communication just so that I find a comrade in the fight for the cause.
Thanks for writing. I feel encouraged. Mr Virdi's is a worthy cause to fight for, especially since the action against him is the sign of a deeper malaise.
Best Regards,
Shubhranshu
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On 07-Sep-2013, at 6:11 PM, "SHARMA, VINAY" <V.SHARMA@AFDB.ORG> wrote:
Dear Shubhranshu,
I joined the Stores Service of the Railways in 1985 and worked briefly on Western Railway before going on deputation to Konkan Railway in January 1991 and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in 1998. I returned to the Railways for a brief period in 2002 before taking up an assignment with the African Development Bank (AfDB) in October 2002. I am presently posted at Tunis as the Director of the Procurement and Fiduciary Services Department of the Bank.
Sunil Bajpai is a close friend and a batchmate and it was he who gave me your mail address. I do apologise for this intrusion, but I would be grateful for your guidance on an important issue that has disturbed me profoundly in the last few days.
When the sordid events leading to the “Railgate” affair hit the press, it troubled a large number of Railway Officers as the system was shown to be able to be influenced by money and power. There was a silver lining, though- many of us hoped that this would lead to the necessary cleansing in the system and that merit and strict adherence to the principles would again drive postings at the highest levels in the Railways.
It was, therefore, with a deep sense of outrage that I learnt about the vigilance case that appears to have been resurrected and that would seek to adversely affect the career of one of the tallest officers of the Railways today. I have had the proud privilege of working with Mr. Virdi at the Lower Parel Workshops (and subsequently when I was a Senior Stores Officer at Churchgate and Mr. Virdi was the Sr. DME at the loco shed at Abu-Road) and it will indeed be a sad day for the organization if someone as principled and straight as Mr. Virdi is reduced to explaining his conduct in a seemingly minor transaction that, by all accounts, appears to be straightforward and necessary in promoting innovation. I do not know the details of the case, but from whatever I have learnt from the press, it would be tragic if the organization, at the highest level is seen to be not only not protecting its own officers from outlandish charges, but seems to be actively encouraging conspiratorial behavior.
I read the letter that you had written to the Minister of Railways and I most enthusiastically endorse it. As an ex-Railway Officer and a proud citizen of India, I believe that I have no choice but to add my voice so that a deserving officer is not denied his due- and the organization is not denied the opportunity of being led by someone who is probably our only hope of bringing order and the highest values back to the Railways. I would, therefore, like to write a letter to the Minister of Railways, but the web-site of the Ministry of Railways does not have the e-mail address of his office. I will be grateful, therefore, if you could either send me the mail address that I could send a letter to, or perhaps, if you think it appropriate, to forward this mail to the Minister’s office.
I have not spoken about this letter to Mr. Virdi, as I do not wish to embarrass him. I also believe that, principled as he is, he would perhaps feel demeaned by someone else taking up his cause. My conscience will, however, not allow me to remain silent to what I perceive is rank injustice.
I do realize that a summary closing of the vigilance case, though perfectly valid under the circumstances, would perhaps give an impression of another cover up. What could be acceptable, therefore, is a strictly time-bound enquiry (say to be completed in two weeks’ time) that would determine if there indeed was any impropriety. The enquiry should also establish if the vigilance case was resurrected for ulterior motives- and if so, demonstrable action should be taken so that vigilance does not become the tool for settling personal scores.
Thanks and kind regards,
Vinay Sharma
IRSS- 1985
Director, Procurement and Fiduciary Services Department,
African Development Bank,
Tunis, Tunisia
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