The large number of railway accidents during Mamata Banerjee?s term as the railway minister has failed to serve as a wake-up call to the ministry. Over a lakh vacancies relating to railway safety in C and D categories are yet to be filled. Also, the all-important post of member (traffic) doesn?t yet have a full-time official, with the chairman taking care of this position as an additional responsibility.
Indian Railways has largely failed to appoint staff in the Group D category despite availing of special exemption from the Cabinet to lower eligibility criteria almost a year back. This has resulted in the posts of nearly 1 lakh workers, mostly in the crucial safety section of the railways, being vacant.
Following the recommendation of the Sixth Pay Commission, the government had set matriculation as the minimum eligibility criteria for recruitment of Group D staff and had merged the category with Group C. According to the previously set minimum qualification, anyone who had passed standard VIII was eligible to be recruited in Group D.
?After the government set matriculation as the minimum educational qualification, the railways had urged the Cabinet to allow it to finalise the recruitment for Group D category on the basis of the earlier criteria, since the process of selection was more or less complete according to the earlier guidelines,? an official in Rail Bhawan said. ?The railways has not announced the panel so far. Now the Cabinet Secretariat is asking for action to be taken, but we have nothing to say,? the official added.
Recruitment in Group C is also stuck due to instances of paper leakage. As per an estimate, nearly 70,000 posts are to be filled in this category. The railways is a manpower-intensive sector and employs about 1.6 million people in the country.
?We are yet to get a clear direction from the top. The minister had, a few weeks back, written to the Railway Board chairman to submit a plan of action to fill the vacancies. The reality is that in most of these cases, decisions have to be taken at the level of the minister,? another official said.
The post of member (traffic) in the Railway Board is lying vacant for the last one and a half months and the Railway Board chairman, Vivek Sahay, is currently handling traffic as an additional charge. ?The post of member (staff) is also to be filled, since AK Goyal who held the key responsibility, has taken voluntary retirement,? the official said.
The railways, however, does not appear to be concerned about recruitment. This, despite the fact that instances of accidents have gone up in the last year. Since Mamata Banerjee took over as the railway minister, several rail accidents, including the one at Sainthia in West Bengal?s Birbhum district, have claimed the lives of over 233 people, apart from leaving several hundreds injured.
