While the deadly Coronavirus Pandemic lockdown brought everything to a halt and adversely affected the earnings of railways due to non operations of trains in full capacity, the wheels of striving for the best at Eastern Railway has always been running. In another new achievement unlocked by Eastern Railway, the Materials Management department of E.Rly initiated new ways to enhance the earnings through sale of unserviceable materials (Scrap) released from various activities of the railways during the harsh times of Coronavirus Pandemic. Eastern Railway has sold scrap materials worth Rs. 29 Crore in the lockdown, under the dynamic leadership & able guidance of Shri Suneet Sharma – General Manager of Eastern Rly & Shri Ajai Kumar Dubey – Principal Chief Materials Manager of ER.
The Materials Management Dept. of E.Rly identified all the scrap lying along the track lines and workshops in the months of April to July 2020 by all the Divisions under the direction of General Manager of Eastern Railway. The sale of the scrap started in the month of June 2020 and till now scrap worth Rs. 29 crore has already been sold. The dept. held e-auctions two times every month in Belur Scrap Yard, depots at Jamalpur & Halishahar & in divisions at Howrah & Sealdah in a transparent manner. These auctions were 100% online, where anybody from any corner of the country could participate. Released materials from track such as unserviceable rails, sleepers and condemned locomotives, coaches, wagons and unserviceable released ferrous and non-ferrous materials from various Sheds and Workshops were sold in these e-auctions.
Under the directives of General Manager Shri Suneet Sharma and Principal Chief Materials Manager Shri Ajai Kumar Dubey, Eastern Railway has set its target to make the Zonal Railway completely scrap free. It is worthwhile to mention that Eastern Railway has achieved the highest ever scrap sale of Rs. 348 crore during previous year which is the best ever performance of ER in its history. Eastern Railway endeavours to achieve 100% scrap free status of all its workplaces by the end of current year.
ER has also started use of TMS (Track Management System) for Scrap Management. This is a giant leap towards paperless working. Asansol Division has already offered online 3 lots of total 132 MT of Engg Scrap for the 1st time through this system.