Indian Railways cracks the whip on absentee employees! Action to be taken against 13,000 rail staff

Indian Railways takes an unprecedented step against absentee employees! Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, in a bid to improve the functioning of Indian Railways, has decided to sack as many as 13,000 railway employees who have been on unauthorised leave for a long time. Indian Railways currently employs as many as 13 lakh people, so this decision means that the employment of as much as 1% of the railway staff has been terminated. According to a Ministry of Railways press release, the move is aimed at not only improving the performance of Indian Railways but also to “boost the morale of sincere and diligent railway employees”. In an attempt to improve the current scenario, a massive drive was established to spot the long-term absentees in various zones of Indian Railways. Under this initiative, Indian Railways managed to identify more than 13 thousand railway employees out of around 13 lakh employees who are on unauthorized absence for a long period of time. Indian Railways has said that disciplinary action has been initiated by the organization in order to remove the absent railway employees, under the rules to terminate services of such absentees.

All the railway officers and supervisors have been instructed by Indian Railways to take out the employees on unauthorized absence from the employees’ rolls after following due process. As per the data released by the Ministry of Railways, 13,521 railway employees have been on leave without authorization. The zone-wise details accessed by Financial Express Digital show that in Central Railways out of 1375 absentee employees, action has been initiated against 1097. All other zones are initiating the necessary action.

Meanwhile, Indian Railways has notified that a total of 62,907 job vacancies are available at indianrailways.gov.in. The recruitment drive of Railway Group D vacancy 2018 includes posts like Trackman, Cabinman, Leverman, Pointsman, Helper-II, Gr. D (Store), Keyman, Shunter, Welder, Fitter, Porter, Helper-II (Mech), Helper-II (S&T), Gr. D (Engg.), Gangman and Switchman.