By Sanjeev Kumar Patro
Bhubaneswar: Saddling with over 2.6 lakh vacancies, including gazette and non-gazette, the Indian Railways will soon launch a recruit drive for 25,000 positions across the different zones.
Though the zone wise recruitment soon to be held has not been released, the Railway Board has took a policy decision to launch a mega recruitment drive in coming months. Since the recruitment and positioning of men will take time, grappling with staff shortages, the Railway Board has introduced a plan to temporarily fill vacancies by rehiring retired railway employees.
As per the new scheme for retired employees, retired staff can apply to fill roles ranging from supervisors to track men, as long as they are under the age of 65. They will be appointed for a period of 2 years, with the possibility of extensions. General Managers of all zonal railways have been authorised to hire these retired employees based on criteria such as medical fitness and performance ratings from the last five years.
As per the Railway Board order, applicants must have good ratings in their confidential reports from the five years before retirement and should have no pending vigilance or disciplinary cases.
Rehired employees will be paid their last drawn salary, minus their basic pension. They will also receive travel allowances for commuting and official tours but won’t be eligible for extra benefits or salary increases.
WHY REHIRING RETD EMPLOYEES?
The Railway Board’s decision to rehire retired railway personnel is attributed to rising train accidents and a shrinking workforce. With 10,000 vacant positions in the North-Western Railway alone, the initiative aims to address operational challenges caused by understaffing.
The Railway Board stated that re-hiring retired staff is necessary to meet the urgent need for personnel in supervisory and other essential roles.
ZONE WISE VACANCIES DETAILED BELOW
The rehiring of retired railway employees raise many an eyebrows when the Indian behemoth is saddling with over 2,61,233 vacancies in non-gazetted category and 2,680 in gazetted category. The recruitment of retired personnel for the 25 K belong the non gazetted category.
As per the data available with railway board, Indian Railways have recruited 5.11 lakh during the last 10 year period of 2014-2024, which is nearly a lakh more than the previous 10-year period of 2004-2014. The appointments made during 2004 -14 stood at 4.11 lakh.
Here is the vacancies zone wise.
