Sanjiv Handa takes over as Member Mechanical, Railway Board

SANJIV Handa, a 1969 batch special class railways apprentice officer, has taken over as Member mechanical, Railway Board and ex-officio secretary to the Government of India on Wednesday. He replaces Praveen Kumar who retired from this post on March 31, 2010. He joined the Indian Railways Service of Mechanical Engineering on January 19, 1974.

He was earlier holding the post of General Manager, East Central Railway since November 19, 2009. He had also held key position in Railway Board, South Eastern, South East Central, Southern and South Western Railways, in addition to working as Additional Member (Mechanical Engineering) in Railway Board.

During his tenure as divisional railway manager, Kharagpur, the Route Relay Interlocking system at Howrah station was upgraded. The prolonged non-interlocking working forced suspension of virtually all trains into Howrah for some days through Eastern Railway. However, Handa ensured that train services from South Eastern Railway did not cease, and overnight, an alternate was created at Santraganchi with no disruption to any of the long distance trains. He was also credited with introducing distributed power system on Locomotive allowing traffic department to avoid engine and break van reversal at terminals.

A known workaholic, Mr Handa is socially active. He is a powerful orator and takes a keen interest in sports.

No condom in IAS-initiated Chandigarh bar

The opening of a condom bar in Chandigarh was the brainchild of now retired Punjab-cadre IAS officer Jasbir Singh Bir. The idea behind the bar was to ensure that those who come there for a drink would get condoms, both free and on payment.

Now, the bar which began operational when Mr Bir was the MD of Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO), and was inaugurated by an AIDS patient, will get a new theme altogether after all condoms were removed from it.