Railway Board Circulars – Discontinuance of Hard Copies

No.2018/O&M/2/5, dated 02.11.2018

Sub: Discontinuation of circulation of hard copies of Orders/ Circulars etc.

1. Subsequent to adoption of email as a paperless form of communication, it has been decided to dispense with the prevailing system of circulation of hard copies of instructions/ policy circulars/ orders or correspondence being made with Zonal Railways and other units. Circulation of hard copies of Orders/ instructions may be kept to bare minimum i.e., to only concerned officials, instead e-copies (scanned copies in pdf format) may be forwarded to all concerned through official NIC email and a copy be uploaded on the official website which would be treated as ‘issued’ copy. Similar procedure may also be adopted for correspondence with concerned through email.
2. Accordingly, henceforth all correspondence to Board and other offices may be made through email, instead of forwarding hard copies. All Officers/ Staff down the line may be asked to facilitate the use of Official NIC email and messages received through email are to be replied to in the same form by the officer receiving the message as normal procedure being followed for hard copies. The above would lead to saving of paper and manpower.
2.1 Necessary directives may also be issued to all concerned to ensure that emails are checked regularly in addition to viewing of Orders/ instructions uploaded on website to avoid lapses, if any. All fresh instructions are to be uploaded on the homepage of ZR/ PU/ Other Unit website for at least 15 days and subsequently the same may be transferred to the designated location on the website. Suitable changes in the website may accordingly be made.
2.2 All instructions from Board’s Office would also be issued electronically i.e., the order/ instruction would be uploaded on IR’s Official website and copies would be sent electronically through NIC email. Circulation of hard copies is being stopped forthwith or is being kept to bare minimum. Henceforth, all correspondence to ZR/ PU/ Other Units would be through Official NIC email.
3. Strict compliance of the above instructions may be ensured by all concerned.

Download Railway Board Circular dated 02.11.2018

Forward reference⇒RBE No.