Inadequate number of staff has burdened the workforce of railways to bear unaffordable workload -NRMU

This struggle of the union is not only in the interest of Railway employees but also in the interest of the common man of the country who deserves to have the right of an affordable train transportation system in the nation! Venu P. Nair, GS/NRMU-CR&KR

All Railwaymen and all citizens of the country are well aware of the crisis of unemployment our nation being faced since decades. The reports of NSO, Labour Bureau and CMIE explicitly showcased the seriousness of the matter may be with a slightly varied data, but agrees to rely upon the fact that the as on October this year the rate of unemployment has surged to 7.7% from 6.43 % and the rural employment had a sharp rise from 5.84 to 8.04%.

The duality between the ground reality of tangible unemployment and the perception created by the events like “Rozgar Melas” will stand as contradictions unless the opportunity of a secured paid job or self-employment is available to the employable youth that constitute 40% of the entire 140 crore population of the country.

Connecting its thread to the above statement, hon’ble Central Ministers has also vindicated its truthfulness by revealing that about 10 lakh vacancies are lying unfilled in Government Establishments including Railways, Defence, other Central Government Offices, Public Sector Enterprises and State Government organizations across the nation.

To a starred question No.2681 raised in parliament, Hon’ble Minister for Railways has reported that as on 01.02.2022 in Indian Railways 3,03,933 posts are lying vacant to get filled including 3,01,414 posts in Group ‘C’ and 2,519 posts in Gazetted rank.

In Central Railway it is reported that there are about 27,000 vacancies to be filled. Thousands of posts are surrendered through retrograde policies of matching surrender, revisions of yardstick, manpower augmentation, expenditure management and pruning of the workforce to facilitate outsourcing and contractualisation.

National Railway Mazdoor Union (NRMU-CR/KR) and All India Railwaymens Federation (AIRF) consistently tried its best to bring the attention of the concerned ministries and railway administration at Centre and Zone, and apprised them about the gravity of the situation.

“We have pleaded them presenting undeniable data stating that the maximum number of the posts lying vacant are in the safety categories classified vide Board’s letter dated 8.6.2022 in Engineering, Running, Electrical & Mechanical, S&T, Running and Operating Department which cater to the requirement of safe operations of train working, repair and maintenance activities of the rolling stock”, said Com. Venu P. Nair, General Secretary, NRMU-CR & KR.

Even though multiple notifications are issued since 2019 for recruitment of candidates, the purpose of the effort is not accomplished due to the inordinate delay caused for completion of the recruitment process. The inadequate number of staff in consideration to the sanctioned strength and non-creation of posts to man the additional assets came up in railways progressively in the last decades has burdened the work force to bear unaffordable workload, he said.

He say, “the existing short manpower by virtue of compulsion are tempted to adopt shortcut methods while discharging their highly sensitive duties. The shortage of staff, materials and poor working conditions distract the limited staff and they helplessly tended to render desired qualitative and quantitative service in strict adherence to the prescribed safety norms in operations, maintenance and upkeep of railway assets. Under situational pressure they are also forced to commit inadvertent errors and unintentional mistakes which could lead to disastrous results and falls victims to severe disciplinary actions”.

The different directives issued by Railway Board during COVID period and thereafter for surrendering of the posts have fueled the agony of the workers. The orders issued for rampant surrendering of 50% of the vacancies, rationalization of the manpower with restriction imposed on creation of posts, the arbitrary cut of manpower through work study and JA process etc., have had its negative impact. The career progression and promotional prospects of the staff are hampered tremendously either due to the delay in finalization of the selection to the promotional posts through various available avenues or by not relieving the empanelled employees to the promotional posts and grade within the stipulated time frame, NRMU said in a press release.

NRMU say, the recent retrograde policies unveiled by the government for monetization of railway assets including its land and its properties and its hard push for corporatization, outsourcing and private train operations has created a sense of uncertainty and anguish among the workforce. The scrapping and subsuming of the pro-labour laws into four anti-worker labour codes, the threats of dismantling and discarding of core and non-core railway activities, schools, hospitals, sports infrastructures, recreation facilities and the attempts to discontinue the rights, privileges and perks have also made severe heartburn to the workers.   

The NRMU upholding the moral and ethical responsibility to act as a watchdog of the social transformation, desires to challenge dubious planning of government to stop the privilege of affordable train journey to common man started with abolition of various type of concessions, usage of multiple model of fare fixing formulas, introduction of private operated trains charging high end fares and unaffordable usage of facilities at stations with handing over its management to corporates in the name of outsourced Station Redevelopment projects, said Com. Venu P. Nair.

He said, in the backdrop of the above to express the anguish, concern and resentment of the workers of Central Railway against the apathy of administration to address the issues the NRMU has organised a peaceful protest demonstration in front of the DRM office, Central Railway, Mumbai on 22.11.2022 after duty hours.

Com. Nair told the #Railwhispers that this struggle movement was spearheaded by the union not only in the interest of present employees but also in the interest of the common man of the country who deserves to have the right of an affordable train transportation system in the nation.

#NRMU #AIRF #IndianRailways #CentralRailway #RailwayBoard #AshwiniVaishnaw #PMOIndia