Railway Board wants to suppress voices of dissent ruthlessly, says Railway officer Sanjiv Kumar

The Railway Board wants to suppress new ideas and voices of dissent "ruthlessly", officer Sanjiv Kumar has said after Railway authorities sought action against him for writing an article against their minister and raising issues related to the working of the national transporter.

On Monday evening, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi curtailed Kumar's tenure as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Jitendra Singh, the minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), and approved his repatriation to the Railway ministry.

The 2005-batch officer of the Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS) recently wrote to the Personnel ministry against the Railway ministry's "malafide and malicious" request that he be immediately repatriated.

But he was sent back notwithstanding the request.

The move came a month after the Railway ministry had written to the Personnel ministry seeking his immediate repatriation for "breach of official decorum and ...