In a move that is creating ripples in the Railway Ministry, Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee’s office has declined to extend the term of Executive Director (Training and Manpower Planning) Ragini Yechury despite the Railway Board clearing the same for four months.

The ministry has directed that Ragini, who is CPM leader Sitaram Yechury’s sister-in-law, be transferred to South Eastern Railway. Given that there is no love lost between Mamata and the Left, the move is being viewed as a direct fallout of Ragini’s Yechury link.

Interestingly, the Railway Board had granted her an extension saying this was necessary to ensure continuity for a programme the Executive Director had been actively involved in the past few months. Ragini’s five-year term in the ministry expired on May 30, following which she had been given a three-month extension.

Married to Yechury’s younger brother B S Yechury, who is an engineer employed with Maruti Udyog Ltd, Ragini is a 1981-batch Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS) officer.

With her term set to expire in August-end, the Railway Board had cleared a file seeking an extension for Ragini till December. The officer has been involved in negotiating key agreements with international business institutes like the HEC Paris, INSEAD and Stern School of Business to get around 900 Railway officials five-year training in China, Japan and South Korea. The board felt she was required to oversee the performance delivery of these courses as they commenced in September. However, in a September 7 order, the Railways Ministry announced that South Eastern Railway’s Chief Personnel Officer R R Prasad was being brought as ED (T&MPP) in Rail Bhavan and that Ragini should take his place in South Eastern Railway.

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