East Coast Railway bags Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant award

Visakhapatnam: The East Coast Railway bagged Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant Best Zonal Railway Shield-2015 for its all-round performance among all zones in the Indian Railways. Senior Divisional Commercial Manager, Waltair Division of East Coast Railway M Yelvender Yadav said here on Friday this was the second time that the East Coast Railway bagging the award, the first being for all-round performance in 2008.

He said the award was instituted in memory of former Union Home Minister and freedom fighter Bharat Ratna Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant, which is to be given every year to the zonal railway, whose performance is adjudged to be the best amongst all other zonal railways.

The award instituted in 1988 on the occasion of Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant’s birth centenary, will be presented during the Railway Week National Award function to be held in Bhubaneswar on Saturday. About the selection of the award, Yadav said the award is given basing on the selection of 18 parameters, including revenue earnings, goods traffic, punctuality of trains, passenger traffic, economy in manpower, ticket checking and timely completion of major works.

The East Coast Railway loaded 173.49 million tonnes freight in 2015-16 fiscal which was 7.1 per cent higher than the previous fiscal, he added.