Officials of the Indian Railways have revealed that a whooping 2.8 crore people have filed primary applications for just about 90,000 posts, which is being called one of the single biggest ever recruitment drives in the world.
The Railways Recruitment Board had opened up applications for almost one lakh vacancies last month to fill up positions of 26,502 assistant loco pilots (train engine drivers), technicians, carpenters, and crane drivers in Level 2 of the Seventh Pay Commission. These posts come with a pay band of Rs. 19,000 to Rs. 63,200 per month.
Moreover, there are vacancies of 62,907 for the posts of gangmen, switchmen, trackmen, cabinmen, welders, helpers, and porters in Level 1, which are paid between Rs. 18,000 to Rs. 56,000 per month.
Apart from these vacancies, 20,000 more jobs are expected to be up for grabs next month. Once they are filled up, the Railways, which are already India’s biggest public sector employers, will see its employee strength grow from 13 lakh to over 14 lakh.
The Railway Board is conducting such large recruitment drives because it has not been hiring many employees recently owing to its efforts to cut costs following implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission.
Attention is now being diverted to manpower augmentation because the Railways Ministry has decided to accord priority to a massive modernization plan worth $130 billion. This had repeatedly been announced by Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.