Cuttack: Plenty of travelling, going from one zone to another, entering into verbal duels with non-ticket travellers and confrontation with antisocials are all in a day’s work for a train ticket inspector (TTI) who does open duty. These are perhaps some of the reasons why female TTIs always prefer station duty over open duty.
Meet athlete turned TTI Parbati Sethy who prefers doing open duty by choice. She has been in open duty for a month now and every day she travels to different places from Cuttack station. Her dedication and courage has earned her accolades from seniors, juniors and colleagues of East Coast Railway.
A railway employee since 1999, Parbati recently returned from Italy with an international medal. She met Khordha division DRM Sashikanta Singh subsequently and sought more time for her sports practice by preferring to do open duty. One has to be at the station for eight hours in case of station du, she argued.
According to the Railway Department rule, there is no fixed time limit in case of open duty. After the completion of a given job, the duty is considered over for that day.
While the DRM initially advised her not to go for open duty given its challenges, a determined Parbati assured Singh that she can protect herself and is capable enough to face the challenges. Eventually, the DRM directed senior DCM PK Samal to give her open duty about a month back.
Parbati says sports have taught her to be brave enough to face the challenges. “I have never faced any issue to run my family consisting of my husband and a nine-year-old son. I am also discharging my job sincerely,” says Parbati adding that, “There is no issue at all for women to take up this job. It only requires will power and courage.”
PNN
