History of NRMU

Lord Dalhousie in the year 1843 conceived of the possibility of opening up of India by means of Railway communication.

The “Bombay Great Eastern Railway” was formed, which is the precursor of G.I.P. Railway.

Mr. John Chapman the projector of G.I.P. Railway was nominated to come to India to make investigation and he left England on 3^rd August 1845 and reached Bombay on 6^th Sept. 1845, a 5 week journey.

The first train in Asia was run between Bombay – Thane on Saturday, 16-4-1853, with steam engine by name “Falk Land”, imported from England.

G.I.P Railwaymen’s Union was formed in 1919, after merging various Unions, namely G.I.P. Railway workers Union + GIP Railway staff Union + Amalgamated Union of Railway servants of India and Burma.

During 1950, the name of the Union was changed to “G.I.P. Railway Mazdoor Panchayat”, further changed to “Central Railway Mazdoor Panchayat” in 1951 and finally “National Railway Mazdoor Union” was born in 1954 with Shri Prithvi Raj Singh as General Secretary and Shri Pritham Raj Kapoor as President.

There had been numerous agitations in Railways, even before NRMU is born, in Central Railway.

1907    –           Lighting Strike by Signallers.

1919    –           Strike against retrenchment etc.

During 1948 the casual labourers working at Thull & Borghats went on a strike demanding regularization of service which was huge success.

It was on 1-4-1924, all Indian Railwaymen’s Federation was born with Shri N.M. Joshi, as President and Shri V.R. Kalappa, as Secretary and G.I.P. Railwaymen’s Union was affiliated to AIRF.

Permanent Negotiating Machinery was evolved  by the combined wisdom of Shri Jayprakash Narayan & Shri Guruswamy from AIRF on one side and S/Shri Gopal Swamy Igengar and Neelkantan of Railway Board in 1952.

Veterans like Com. S.N. Patil, Com. V.B. Mahadeshwar, Com. P.R.Menon and Com. V.R. Malagi, Com. George Fernandez, Com. S.I. Shetty, Com. S.L. Dubey, Com. Y.G. Joshi were worked in the Union in different capacity during different period.

Com. P.R. Menon had worked as President before becoming General Secretary of NRMU, and worked for a considerably longer period, and Com. P.R.Menon along with Com. Y.G. Joshi and Com. C. Radhakrishnan were involved in various strikes, including the 1974 Railway strike. Com. V.R. Malagi, who was the General Secretary of NRMU during 1974 strike was died on 2-5-1974 in jail, after he was arrested on 1-5-1974.

After 1974 strike Com. Mahadeshwar and Com. S. Patil took the leadership of NRMU and contributed immensely in strengthening the Union.

After 1974 strike,  there was no any centralized agitation either at all India level nor in Central Railway but various agitations did take place on issues like decasualization, Bonus to all (including supervisory staff) Agitation against privatization and also on many other departmental issues. Due to the persistent demand by AIRF/NRMU recruitment to Gr. ‘D’ cadre was decentralized and this lead to the entry of young, qualified youths in Railways. By this time, NRMU lost so many veterans like Com. Kutty, Com. Irani, Com. Mirani, Com. Shankaran, Com. Kumar, Com. Sabne and many who either opted out or forced to quit NRMU.

During 1980 Com. P.R. Menon was elected as General Secretary  and Com. S.I. Shetty as President, Com. P.R. Menon continued to be General Secretary upto 2013, while Com. S.L.Dubey was elected as President during 1984 to 1998 and Com. Y.G. Joshi from 1999 to 2015.

Com. P.R. Menon and com. Y.G. Joshi worked comparatively for a longer period, as General Secretary and President.

Even-though so many veterans as explained above were either quit or forced to quit, it is also equally true that during the period of Com. P.R.Menon and Com. Y.G. Joshi large number of employees were encouraged to join the Union and worked in different division. Com. Ibrahim Khan and Com. Puspendra Kapde, both Divisional Secretary and Vice President, Com. Ramesh Babu, Divisional Secretary Solapur, Com. Umapathy, Soalpur, Com. Parbhane and Com. V.S. Parab, Pune, Com. Habib Khan Nagpur, Com. N. Haridasan, Mumbai, Com. Nandlal Swea, Mumbai  and Com. Chintaman Bhoir Mumbai are few examples.

Meanwhile, as per directive from Hon. Court election for recognition was held at all over  in Indian Railways, by Secret Ballot in the year 2007 wherein both NRMU/CRMS became eligible for recognition in Central Railway.

During the election held for recognition during 2013 NRMU was placed 2^nd at Pune Division and NRMU also lost Konkan Railway during the year 2012. The youngsters and many others in the Union were quite uncomfortable with all these developments and they looked for a change in leadership of NRMU.

In the year 2013 November, BGCM of NMRU held at Bhusaval Com. Venu Purushottaman Nair a young dynamic leader and his team with convincing majority elected as General Secretary and also to other posts,  Com. P.R. Menon, step down from the post of General Secretary after working for 33 years continuously and opted to work as Working President on health ground.

Immediately after being elected as General Secretary, election of ECC Society was held on 18-6-2014 and this was the first challenge which the new General Secretary has to face and it is to the credit of Com. Venu P. Nair that NRMU scored a historical victory in the said election, and completely swept Mumbai Division with 97% victory. For the first time, a tie up arrangement with SC/ST Association was also made possible by Com. Venu P. Nair.

The new team of Com. Venu P. Nair consists of the following at the HQ level.

Com. Arun Manore                 –           Working President

Com. Ramesh Babu                –           AGS

Com. Tribhuvan Singh          –           AGS

Com. Nitin Pradhan              –           AGS

Com. P.T.S. Raja                    –           AGS

The entire office bearers of NRMU at various Divisions and stand firmly behind Com. Venu P. Nair, General Secretary.

Com. N. Haridasan an old time NRMU activist, who worked in various capacity such as Branch Secretary, Divisional Secretary, Mumbai, Asst. General Secretary, HQ and WCM of AIRF also found a place in Com. Venu’s team, in a newly created post by name “Head Office Secretary”, in place of Advisor”.

Com. Venu P. Nair, General Secretary, NRMU was also elected as Vice President, AIRF during the BGCM held in 2013.

In the history of trade unions the first Women President Com. Kamakshi Balwadikar  nominated by GS Com. Venu P. Nair in 68th AGM of NRMU. 

NRMU is running fast to attain the lost glory with Com. Venu P. Nair firmly on driver’s seat.

Formation of National Railway Mazdoor Union and Chronology of Office Bearers

Year	Events	Post	Holding Post From
Before 1919	G I P Railway Workers Union	——
1919	G I P Railway Workers Union ( By merging of GIP  Railway Workers Union, GIP Railway Staff Union & Amalgamated Unions of Railway Servants of India and Burma	——
1950	GIP Railway Mazdoor Panchayat
	Com. Peter Alvares	General Secretary
1951	Central Railway Mzdoor Panchayat
1952	Com. Peter Alvares	General Secretary
	Com. D.S. Parab	President
1954	National Railway Mazdoor Union
	Com. Prithviraj Singh	General Secretary
	Com. Pritham Raj Kapoor	President
1958	Com. Prithviraj Singh	General Secretary
	Com. Peter Alvares	President
1960	Com. V.R. Malagi ( Mama Malagi)	General Secretary
	Com. Peter Alvares	President
1974	Com. V.R. Malagi ( Mama Malagi)	General Secretary
	Com. George Fernandez	President
1974 After Strike	Com. V.B. Mahadeshwar	General Secretary
	Com. S.N. Patil	President
1980	Com. P.R. Menon	General Secretary
	Com. S.L. Shetty	President
1984 -1998	Com. P.R. Menon	General Secretary
	Com. S.L. Dubey	President
1999	Com. P.R. Menon	General Secretary
	Com. Y.G. Joshi	President
2013	Com. Venu P. Nair	General Secretary	2013
	Com. Y.G. Joshi	President
2015	Com. Venu P. Nair	General Secretary
	Com. Nitin S. Pradhan	President
2018	Com. Venu P. Nair	General Secretary
	Com. P.J. Shinde	President	2018
2022	Com. Venu P. Nair	General Secretary
	Com. Kamakshi Bagalwadikar	President	2022

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