FROA - Federation of Railway Officers Association

 

FROA 

• Website: https://froa.in/ 

• FROA stands for Federation of Railway Officers Association  

• Represents 8000 (approx) Group A Officers in Indian Railways  

• Represents 9 cadres of Officers

• Established in 1965 

• Apex body of 17 Zonal Railways and 11 Production Units 

• Objects: To promote and safeguards the interests of Railway Officers in the matters of 

1. Welfare 

2. Service conditions & prospects

3. Sense of fraternity & unity of purpose

• 1966 - Recognized by the Ministry of Railways 

• First General Secretary - Shri R Dayal, PE, Parel Workshop, WR. 

• Member of PREM - Participation of Railway Employees in Management. 

• Member of Governing body of IRWO - Indian Railways Welfare Organization. 

• For Promotee Officers -  IRPOF - Indian Railway Promotee Officers Federation

Key Points for MCQ:   

1. FROA stands for Federation of Railway Officers Association 

2. IRPOF stands for Indian Railways Promotee Officers Association  

3. PREM stands for Participation of Railway Employees in Management 

4. IRWO stands for Indian Railway Welfare Organization

5. Established in 1965 

6. Recognized by Ministry of Railways in 1966 

7. FROA - for Group A Officers 

8. IRPOF - for Promotee Officers 

End

Historical Reforms - Indian Railways

Click for Railway Board letter

Click for Press Release by PIB

Railway Board - Re-organization 

• Source: DOPT letter dated 02.09.2020

 

•  New Set up - CRB/ CEO and Four Members

 

• Surrender of 3 Member posts in Apex Grade

Old Set up  (CRB + 8 Members)	Changes in	New Set up (CRB/CEO + 4 Members)
CRB - Chairman, Railway Board	Designation	Chairman & CEO, Railway Board
FC - Financial Commissioner	Designation	Member (Finance) - MF
Member-Traffic (MT)	Designation	Member (O&BD - Operations & Business Development) - M/O&BD
Member - Traction  (MTR)	Designation	Member (T & RS -Traction & Rolling Stock) - M/TRS
Member - Signal & Telecommunications (MST)	Designation	Member (Infrastructure) - M/Infra
Member - Rolling Stock (MRS)	Utilized as	Director General (HR-Human Resources) in Apex Grade
Member - Staff (MS)	Surrendered	-
Member - Engineering (ME)	Surrendered	-
Member - Material Management (MMM)	Surrendered	-

Broad Distribution of work to be handled by the Board Members

Chairman Railway Board & Chief Executive Officer(CEO)CRB	• • • • • • • • • •	HR Safety Security Health Planning In frastructure Vigilance Efficiency & Research Public Relations Heritage Secretary's Branches Transformation Cell & Corporate Co-ordination.
Member (Infrastructure),Railway BoardM/lnfra.	• • • • •	Works, Civil Engineering Bridges Signal & Telecom Land & Amenities Station Development & Railway Electrification
Member {Traction & Rolling Stock(TRS)},Railway Board M/TRS	• • • • • • •	Production Units Mechanical Workshops Coaches Locomotives Train sets Environment and House Keeping Electrical Maintenance of Coaching Stock Traction Distribution Power Supply & Renewable Energy Materials Management
Member         {Operations        & Business Developmen           D)} ,Railway Board- M/O&BD	•	Traffic Transportation Coaching Tourism & Catering Commercial Non-Fare Revenue Marketing & Business Development &
Member           (Finance),Railway Board- MF	• • • •	Accounts Finance Budget Revenue, Stat. & Econ & Economic Unit.

Salient features

·        CEO plus 4 Members

·        CEO – Ex-Officio Principal Secretary to the Government of India

·        DG/HR – Apex scale (equivalent to Member)

·        Addl. Members – Total 20  (HAG +)

·        PED – Principal Executive Directors – Total – 12  (HAG)

·        Member -  Ex-Officio Secretary to the Government of India

·        HR   - Under CEO

·        S&T – Under Member/Infrastructure

·        RE – Under Member/Infrastructure

·        Works, Civil Engineering  - Under Member/Infrastructure

·        Information Technology (IT)  – under Member/O&BD

·        Rolling Stock, Traction Distribution – Under Member/TRS

·        Stores – Under Member/Infrastructure

 

HIERARCHY AT RAILWAY BOARD AND ZONAL RAILWAYS

SN	GRADE	RAILWAY BOARD	ZONAL RAILWAYS
1	JTS – Junior Time Scale	-	AFA –Assistant Financial Advisor
2	STS – Senior Time Scale	DD - Deputy Director	Sr.AFA – Senior Assistant Financial Advisor
3	JAG – Junior Administrative Grade	JD - Joint Director	Dy.FA&CAO – Deputy Financial Advisor & Chief Accounts Officer
4	SG – Selection Grade	Director	Dy.FA&CAO – Deputy Financial Advisor & Chief Accounts Officer
5	SAG – Senior Administrative Grade	ED - Executive Director	FA&CAO – Financial Advisor & Chief Accounts Officer
6	HAG – Higher Administrative Grade	PED – Principal Executive Director	PFA – Principal Financial Advisor
7	HAG +  - Higher Administrative Grade Plus	AM – Additional Member	GM  - General Manager
8	Secretary to Government of India	MF – Member, Finance	-
9	Principal Secretary to Government of India	CRB – Chiarman, Railway Board	-

Historical Reforms In Indian Railways  - Salient features

·        Vision: Making Indian Railways the growth engine of India's vikas yatra.

·        On 24^th December, 2019, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved a transformational organisational restructuring of the Indian Railways.

·        Corporatization structure instead of Government organisation.  

·         Existing 8 Group A services (i.e., Traffic, Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, Signal & Telecom, Stores, Personnel, and Accounts) are merged/unified as Single Central Service i.e., IRMS – Indian Railway Management Service from the next recruitment scale.  

·        Modalities and unification of services will be worked out in consultation with DoPT – Dept of   Personnel and Training and UPSC – Union Public Services Commission with the approval of Alternate Mechanism to be appointed by Cabinet in order to ensure fairness and transparency.

·        The process shall be completed within a year.

·         Newly recruited officers  - From Engineering as well as Non-Engineering disciplines as per need.

·        The recruited officers will be posted as per their aptitude and specialization to allow them to specialize in one field and develop an overall perspective and prepare them to take up general management responsibilities at Senior levels.

·        Selection of General Management positions shall be through a merit-based system.

·        From Departmental lines to Functional lines.

·        The existing service of IRMS – Indian Railway Medical Service – re designated as IRHS – Indian Railway Health Service.

Railway Board – New set up

·        CRB, Chairman, Railway Board will act as CEO – Chief Executive Officer.

·        4 Members – Each for Infrastructure, Operations & Business Development, Traction & Rolling Stock and Finance

·        CRB shall be the Cadre Controlling officer – Responsible for HR – Human Resources with assistance from a DG (HR)

·        3 Apex level posts shall be surrendered from Railway Board and all the remaining posts of the Railway Board shall be open to all officers regardless of the service which they belonged.

·        Also have Independent Members who will be highly distinguished professionals with deep knowledge and 30 years experience incl: at the top levels in Industry, Finance, Economics and Management fields.

·        The Independent Members will help Railway Board in setting a strategic direction.

Backdrop:

·        Unification of services has been recommended by Prakash Tandon committee (1994), Rakesh Mohan Committee (2001), Sam Pitroda Committee (2012) and Bibek Debroy Committee (2015)

·         In continuation of the reforms already taken such as, Merger of Railway Budget with General/Union Budget, Model SOP, Private trains etc.

·         Outcome of 2 days conference “Parivartan Sangoshthi” held in New Delhi on 7^th & 8^th December, 2019 and Extraordinary meeting of the Railway Board on 8^th December, 2019.

·        To speed up the ambitious programme of modernization of Indian Railways with investment of Rs. 50 lakh Crores over the next 12 years.

·        At present, departments are vertically separated from top to bottom and are headed by a Secretary level officer (Member] in the Railway Board. This organization of the department runs deep down to the grass root level of the Railways.

·        Unification of services will end this 'departmentalism', promote smooth working of Railways, expedite decision making, create a coherent vision for organisation and promote rational decision making.

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