House panel slams Railways for slow recruitment drive

The Railways have come under sharp criticism for the slow pace of conducting the process of filling up of around 1,50,000 vacant posts, a chunk of which are related to safety.

The Railways have come under sharp criticism for the slow pace of conducting the process of filling up of around 1,50,000 vacant posts, a chunk of which are related to safety.

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Initiating a process of filling up 36,900 posts over a three-year period from 2006-08, the names of selected candidates were published only in December 2011, officials said.

"At this rate, it will take the Railways another four to five years to fill up 85,663 Group 'D' posts - the recruitment process of which was initiated in December 2010, says the 16th report of the parliamentary standing committee on Railways.

The report - placed in both houses of Parliament on Monday - has called upon the public transporter to effectively expedite the recruitment process.

The TR Baalu-headed committee has also directed the Railways to urgently formulate specific guidelines for a uniform policy in the matter concerning employment to dependants of victims of train mishaps.

Employment in such cases is presently offered to the families of victims, when the Railways minister makes an announcement.

From 2007 to 2010, there have been 638 casualties, while only 48 dependents were provided employment. "The committee is of the view that the matter cannot be kept case specific", the report says.

The committee has also directed the Railways to re-examine issues concerning the regularisation of 'substitutes' in the Railways. There are cases when the eligibility period of the regularisation of individuals appointed as substitutes has been kept as low as four months, the report points out.

The parliamentary panel has also slammed the Railways for slow implementation of the new catering policy of 2010.

"The implementation process is being delayed because of a number of reasons such as shortage of staff, litigation by contractors and lack of specialised manpower by the Railways", says the 15th report of the parliamentary standing committee on railways.

Pointing out that normal tap water stored in tanks was being used for drinking purposes at many railway stations; the committee recommended that the provision of RO system should be made mandatory at all the railway stations.