Strong backlash forces Vande Bharat to rescind disciplinary action against TTE

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The disciplinary action against a Traveling Ticket Examiner (TTE), for purportedly misbehaving with speaker A N Shamseer, was withdrawn on Tuesday. The railway employees' organization SRMU backed Chief TTE GS Padmakumar after the Railway Divisional Manager took action against him.

Padmakumar was removed from duty on Vande Bharat on the complaint of Speaker AN Shamseer that he behaved indecently. However, SRMU backed Padmakumar and pressured the regional officer to withdraw the action as they scoffed that the punishment was meted out at Padmakumar for doing his work properly.

The incident took place on the Vande Bharat Express, shuttling between Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram on Friday. It is reported that Speaker AN Shamseer and his friend Ganesh were on the train. Ganesh came with a chair car ticket but decided to be along with Shamseer who was seated in the executive cabin. When the train reached Thrissur, the TTE advised Ganesh to move to the chair car. Ganesh demanded that the ticket be changed to executive class for him but the TTE didn’t oblige. When the train reached Kottayam, the TTE noticed Ganesh still being seated alongside Shamseer in the executive cabin, which triggered a heated exchange between the two.

It is alleged that AN Shamseer also intervened in the controversy, accusing the TTE of playing politics. When the train reached Thiruvananthapuram, the speaker complained to the Divisional Manager. Immediately Padmakumar was removed from his duty in the elite train.