Indian Railways to Lay Off 3 Lakh Employees?

Guwahati, July 31, 2019:

It has been reported that the Indian Railways is planning to dismiss the jobs of 3 lakh employees as it struggles to increase efficiency and cut costs.

Currently, 13 lakh employees are working in the department and it is planning to reduce its staff to 10 lakh in the next six to 12 months, certain media outlets reported.

As per the reports published by Deccan Harald, the Railway Board has written a letter to all zones and asked them to identify the staff, who are inefficient, who can be asked to take voluntary retirement. The board in its letter written to zonal railway departments on July 27 and asked them to send a performance report of employees by August 9.

The railways may ask the staff to take voluntary retirement above the age of 55 years or those who have completed 30 years of service in the first quarter of 2020, it was reported.

On the other hand, the Railway Ministry issued a statement saying, "A news item has been published in certain newspapers that Indian Railways are taking steps towards compulsorily retiring a sizeable number of Railway employees."

Railways clarified that letters have been issued to Railway Zones/Production Units etc, merely by way of reiteration, to conduct the routine review of performance of the Railway employees in pursuance of the service conditions laid down under Rules 1802 (a), 1803(a), 1804(a) of the Indian Railway Establishment Code, Vol II and Rule 66 (1) (b) of the Railway Services (Pension) Rules, 1993 which are analogous to Rules 56 (j), 56(1) and Rule 48 (1) (b) of the CCS(Pension) Rules, 1972.

It further said, “It is a routine exercise which is required to be conducted by the Administration in public interest and the same has been conducted in previous years as well.”

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