Railways likely to freeze hiring, cut allowances

TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ Some Railway zones, faced with loss of traffic due to the lockdown, are planning an austerity drive that could include hiring freeze, merging of job categories, and curtailment of certain allowances for some section of the employees. According to persons close to the development, zones like the West Central Railway (WCR) have initiated such measures to reduce the expenses on infrastructure works and employee cost.

The Railway traffic has dropped 32 per cent to 99.86 million tonne (mt) between April 1 and May 14, compared to the same time last year, while its revenue, too, dipped 41 per cent to Rs 9,094.38 crore.In a recent meeting, WCR came out with a plan to have no further recruitment of Group D staff.

In addition, it decided to merge several job categories, including booking clerk, inquiry-cum-reservation clerk and ticket-checking staff. “Cadres like parcel porters, cleaners will be retired, while passenger reservation system is likely to be minimal in all big cities,” said a person in the know. Some zones are planning curtailment of allowances admissible to the operational staff of the Indian Railways such as Kilometerage Allowance and night duty allowance.