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August 27, 2001
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Money > Business Headlines > Report August 27, 2001 |
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Railways to cut 30,000 jobs every yearGaurav Raghuvanshi With a rail network of 62,800 km, Indian Railways is the world's second largest railway. When it comes to providing jobs, it is the world's numero uno employer with 1.6 million people on its rolls. But this is a distinction the Indian Railways does not seem to be willing to carry for too long. Over the next 10 years, its staff strength will be down by 300,000 to around 1.2 million. The Railways has drawn up plans to downsize by 30,000 every year for the next 10 years. In the process, it will save at least Rs 3 billion every year. Interestingly, the exercise is being put in place when the Railways is planning to celebrate 150 years of its establishment next year. To begin with, the Railways has decided to abolish 32 positions at the level of the Railway Board, the apex decision making body. These include a couple of additional members (equivalent to an additional secretary in other ministries) besides several executive director level appointments. More posts are being identified that can be done away with. Sources disclose that by the time the dust settles down, the board strength would be down by over 100. Though the drive will make the Railway Board less top-heavy, the real cut in numbers will come through another initiative. "We have decided to limit fresh recruitments to less than one per cent of the total work force per year, while over three per cent of our staffers retire each year. That means that the staff strength of the Railways reduces by two per cent, or 30,000, each year," the sources said. With the average cost per employee at over Rs 100,000, the Railways will be able shave off at least Rs 3 billion each year from its budget. All nine zones and five production units of the Railways have been asked to identify and surrender positions, which can be done away with. Staffers occupying these positions are declared 'super-numerary' (surplus) and are re-trained for taking up other roles where there is a shortage. At the moment, the experiment does not seem to be producing the desired result with over 17,000 railwaymen declared super-numerary not finding alternative jobs within the organisation. "These employees are not contributing to the productivity of the organisation. We are making efforts to retrain them and absorb them in areas where there is a shortage so that they do not drain Railways' resources," the sources said. One question begs an answer here. Why is the Railways downsizing? The Rail Bhawan sources have an answer: "The economic slowdown has hit the Railways hard and earnings from freight business are not keeping pace with proportionate targets. But being a government department, there is no scope for "rightsizing", which has become the mantra for the corporate world. At the same time, we realise that there is no way we can sustain our staff strength of 1.57 million." Experts, however, point out that with the Railways' salary and pension budget crossing 60 per cent of their total earnings, there is need for some desperate action to reduce the workforce to a more reasonable level. Hence, it is downsizing by not filling up vacancies. There was, perhaps, no other option left for the Railways. Sources say that it cannot resort to any harsh measures as the industrial calm in the Railways for the last 29 years has existed on the tacit understanding between the employees and the ministry that there would be no talk of any downsizing. "Imagine the impact of a Railways strike. Even a recommendation in the report of the Rakesh Mohan Committee for rightsizing prompted threats of a strike. There is no way we can talk of rightsizing in the Railways. What we are doing, instead, is to make optimal use of our human resources so that their productivity goes up and the total earnings of the Railways rise to a level where they become sustainable," the official said. Powered by YOU MAY ALSO WANT TO READ:
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