AGRA
: Reply to a RTI question has revealed that more than 3.11 lakh of posts out of 14,75,623 Group C posts and 3,018 out of 18,881 officer cadre posts are vacant in various departments of Indian Railways. Most of the 39 railway zones and production units lack the necessary human resources, according to data provided in response to the question submitted by this TOI correspondent.
The 3,11,438 Group C vacancies include jobs for Tier 1 category staff including trackpersons, pointmen, electrical works, signals and telecommunication assistants. “The majority of Group C vacancies include that of engineers, technicians, clerks, guards/train conductors, station masters, conductors, etc. This directly affects railway operations on a day-to-day basis,” said a North Central Railway employee leader Sangh (NCRES), requesting anonymity.
“The issue of vacancies remains a common issue in every meeting of the Permanent Negotiators Mechanism (PNM) with the authorities at divisional, zone and railway site level. Administrative officials are aware of the problems caused by the lack of the necessary workforce. But the government is not interested in hiring permanent staff. They are enthusiastic about the privatization of the railways,” she added.
According to the data, five out of nine top posts in the Ministry of Railways were vacant until 15 September 2022. In addition, 23 out of 59 senior administrative group posts +, 44 out of 377 senior administrative group posts, 77 out of 1,700 senior posts administration were vacant. Department level vacancies of official officers included 289 Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS) posts, 100 Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS), 260 Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE), 154 Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers (IRSSE ), 324 Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers (IRSEE), 43 Indian Railway Store Service (IRSS), 215 Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers (IRSME), 476 Indian Railway Health Service (IRHS), 145 Indian Railway Protection Force Service (IRPFS ), 321 Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS), 113 general category and 578 miscellaneous. The maximum number of vacancies of 1,274 out of 2,785 sanctioned posts was in the junior ladder, followed by 926 vacancies out of 5,698 in Group B.
This was stated by a senior official of the Indian Railway Traffic Service
TOI
, “The high number of vacancies, especially in Group C, has been a major concern for the overall operations of Indian Railways. The government is expanding the railway network and high-speed rail operations have become a necessity. In order to improve operational safety and public utility, vacancies must be filled in a limited way.
Echoing similar sentiments, a 35-year-old manager said: “I’ve been working double shifts for up to 16 hours straight because we don’t have staff to replace us. I remain sleep deprived and have not been able to take time off to spend time with family, due to the staffing crisis.
In November last year, the National Railway Mazdoor Union (NRMU) of Central Railways staged a peaceful protest at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus against 28,705 vacancies in the railways.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, in his reply to a question from the Rajya Sabha, had admitted this excess of vacancies for all posts and said that instructions had been given to the zonal railway divisions to fill the posts, especially in the safety and security categories. technician .
