Ranchi, May 7: Ranchi rail division will for the first time open its doors for summers interns, having decided to offer 66 undergraduate students an opportunity to train in various sections of its operations, ranging from material and hospital management to electrical and mechanical engineering.

Senior personnel officer of the division R.K. Agrawal said, "We will take two trainees each in financial, material and hospital management, three each in transport and commercial management, four in civil engineering, and five in electronics and telecommunication engineering. This apart, we will offer 29 slots in electrical engineering, 15 in mechanical and 11 in information technology."

Agrawal said they were the first division within south-eastern railway to formally roll out the scheme, first announced in the 2014 Rail Budget. In Ranchi, a formal notification announcing the scheme was published on May 6.

"We worked out all the aspects of the scheme last night and are now set to induct trainees. Internships will be for a maximum of eight weeks. As many as 66 trainees will be inducted across various departments on a first-come first-serve basis," he said, adding that they were hoping to receive applications from Monday.

All applications, along with a no-objection certificate from a prospective intern's college, would have to be sent to Agrawal's office latest by May 12.

Agarwal made it clear that the railways would not be charging any fees from the interns. Nor would the interns be paid remuneration. "But any loss of, or damage to, equipment and fittings caused by trainees during the course of their internship in workshops etc, should be indemnified by parents/guardians," he noted, but added that the Ranchi rail division was open to suggestions and ideas.

"Since it is the first time that we are organising such an event, we hope to get some innovative ideas and suggestions from the youngsters on further improving our services. Who knows, someone might really come up with a path-breaking idea," he said.