New Delhi: More than 2.50 lakh posts remain vacant in the Indian Railways as of 1 July, 2023, of which 2.48 lakh posts fall in the Group C (non-gazetted) category that consist of station masters, technicians and junior engineers, among others.
The highest number of vacancies, in the non-gazetted category, were in the Northern Railway Zone with 32,468 posts followed by the Eastern and Western Railways with 29,869 and 25597 vacancies, respectively, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Rajya Sabha Friday.
Vaishnaw was responding to questions raised by BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi, who sought a post-wise and zone-wise breakdown of the total number of vacancies in the organisation.
According to the railway yearbook of 2021-22, the number of regular employees on Indian Railways as on March 31, 2022 stood at 12,12,882.
Vacancies in the categories of Group-A and Group-B stood at 2,070, with the Eastern Railway topping the list with 216 posts followed by the Western Railway with 192 vacancies.
To the BJP MP’s question on when the vacant posts would be filled up, Vaishnaw noted that the railways is a large organisation and the filling of vacancies, and its occurrence, is a continuous process.
“The vacancies are filled up primarily by placement of indents by Railways with recruitment agencies as per operational requirements,” he said.
Vaishnaw further said that a total of 1.28 lakh candidates have been empanelled, as on 30 June, 2023, to Group ‘C’ posts, excluding level-1 (erstwhile Group-D). Further, 1.47 lakh candidates were empanelled, as of 30 June, 2023, to level-1 posts.
The railway minister noted that no candidate is kept on waitlist after being empanelled.
To a query on percentage of reservation in the appointment of retired Agniveers, Vaishnaw informed that 10 percent quota is set aside for their recruitment as constables under the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the Railway Protection Special Force (RPSF).
“Agniveers have been exempted from Physical Efficiency Test during recruitment wherever applicable including for the post of constable in RPF/RPSF,” Vaishnaw said.
“Horizontal reservation of 10 percent in Level-1 and 5 percent in Level-2 and above, in Railways against Direct Recruitment Quota of various non-gazetted posts is provided to Agniveers, provided they fulfil the requisite eligibility requirement for the posts,” Vaishnaw said.
Under the Agnipath scheme, Agniveers are recruited to the armed forces for a period of four years. After this period, 25 percent of the Agninveers will be retained.
For the remaining lot, the Centre has announced reservations. In March, the Union Home Ministry announced 10 percent quota for former Agniveers in vacancies in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). A similar quota was set aside for them in the Border Security Force (BSF).
(Edited by Tony Rai)