The Government has finally realised that in order for Indian Railways to provide fast and high-quality services to match that of the developed countries of the world, its efficiency and competitiveness will have to be increased. In order to make this happen, many of its works, including maintenance and management of stations, colonies and hospitals, as well as management of schools along with the work of construction of engines, wagons and coaches, will be outsourced.
The Ministry of Railways has already begun the outsourcing process by first re-evaluating the staff requirements across departments. New criteria have been set by the Railway Board and the general managers have been instructed to re-assess the number of employees needed for various tasks in each department and determine the number of jobs that can be outsourced. This will reduce the number of surplus government employees and also help save a lot in terms of salaries and other expenses.
Earlier, orders had been issued to retire the disabled staff and officers who have either crossed the age of 55 or have completed 30 years of service by March 2020. The disabled officers will be given premature retirement as per the rights conferred under the ‘Premature Retirement Clause’ of the Service Rules.
As per the Government, the workforce strength of 13 lakh railway employees needs to be brought down to 10 lakh. As part of this move, the performance, physical and mental health, attendance and punctuality of 1.19 lakh officers of Group A and Group B have already been reassessed in the past five years.
