What Railways Ministry Said About "3.12 Lakh Posts Lying Vacant"? (Photo @@RailMinIndia)
Responding to a query on the shortage of manpower in the Railway, the Ministry today, July 24, stated that the filling up of vacancies is a continuous process given the size, spatial distribution and criticality of operation. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP, Kalanidhi Veeraswamy had raised questions regarding posts lying vacant in the Railway amid the shortage of manpower.
Addressing the shortage of manpower query, the ministry said that adequate and suitable manpower is provided to cater to the regular operations, changes in technology, mechanizations and innovative practices, and noted that vacancies are filled up primarily by placement of indents by Railways with Recruitment agencies as per operational and technological requirements. The ministry pointed out that it conducted two major examinations involving more than 2.37 crore candidates after the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. However, it did not provide specific data on the number of posts lying vacant.
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The MP in his question to the department had asked to submit the government’s reply on the zone-wise details of vacant posts in Indian Railways in the last four years, including the time period for which the posts have been lying vacant.
On the government’s efforts to fill the vacant posts, the ministry further, said that it recruited 1,30,581 candidates after conducting a Computer Based Test (CBT) exam for more than 1.26 crore candidates from 28.12.2020 to 31.07.2021. The Ministry emphasised that no instance of paper leakage or similar malpractice has occurred during the recruitment process.
Referring the system improvement, the Ministry said that it has introduced a system of publishing annual calendar for
recruitment to various categories of Group ‘C’ post.
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Responding to the MP’s query seeking zone-wise details of the total number of per day work hours carried out by loco pilots of each train, the Ministry stated duty hours of Loco Pilots and Assistant Loco Pilots are governed by Railway servants (Hours of Work & Period of Rest) Rules 2005. “Duty hours, numbers of night duties, facility for out-station rest, number and hours of rest at headquarter are well defined and monitored closely,” it added noting that several steps have been taken for improvement of working condition of loco running crew.
The Ministry also listed out the efforts taken to ensure the safety of the train operation including, the improvement in locomotives, improvement in quality of rest of running staff at running among others.
