Bhubaneswar: Purnendu Kumar Mishra, who took over as Member Traffic on Thursday, is only the third Odisha-born railway officer to be elevated to the highest decision making body of Indian Railways.
Only two other Odia officials have been appointed as board members before him.
K C Jena:
In August 2007, the then Railway Board Member (Staff) Kalyan Coomar Jena, a 1971-batch IRTS officer, was appointed as Chairman, Railway Board. He continues to remain the only Odia who reached the highest office in the Railway Board.
He is credited with pioneering a special purpose vehicle for the modernisation and expansion of the Railway Board.
B N Mohapatra:
The 1980-batch Indian Railway Accounts Service officer was appointed as Financial Commissioner in the Railway Board in April 2017. He had also served as the additional member, finance and additional general manager of East Coast Railway.
P Mishra:
Purnendu Mishra, who was the general manager in South Eastern Railway, took over as Member Traffic on Thursday. He had briefly helmed the East Coast Railway as general manager.
A resident of Bhubaneswar, Mishra is a 1982-batch IRTS officer. Mishra worked in various important capacities like Advisor/Safety & Executive Director (Corporate Coordination), Railway Board and Divisional Railway Manager/Raipur in South East Central Railway. He was also the Chief Operations Manager in Western Railway.
