Northern Railway turns to retired employees to meet staff shortage

Scheme valid for a year or till the vacancies get filled; retirement benefits to stay the same; daily remuneration to be decided

PUNJAB Updated: Jul 17, 2017 

Amarpal Singh  Hindustan Times, Ludhiana

The reason for the severe shortage of staff is that no new recruitment has been made in the ticket­ checking cadre since 2013 and hundreds of ticket checkers have got retired since then .(HT File Photo)

Due to lack of ticket checking staff in railways, the Northern Railway has decided to re-engage retired ticket checkers against 557 posts.

In an advertisement released on July 12, the Northern Railway has invited applications from retired railway employees of ticket checking cadre for the posts.

A letter issued by general manager, Northern Railway dated July 12 states that the scheme is valid for a year or till the vacancies get filled.

RECRUITMENT CARRIED OUT LONG AGO

Sources in the railway said that the reason for the severe shortage of staff is that no new recruitment has been made in the ticket checking cadre since 2013 and hundreds of ticket checkers have got retired since then, thereby increasing the pressure on the present working ticket checkers as well as ticket examiners.

Sources confirmed that many coaches in the trains run without a ticket checker.

Moreover, in 2014, the number of coaches to be checked by ticket examiners in a train was increased from three to five. Amid staff shortage, railways earnings have also decreased, the sources said.

Senior divisional commercial manager of Ferozepur Division, Monu Luthra confirmed that the scheme has been approved by the headquarters to cover up the shortage of staff. “At present around 475 employees of ticket checking cadre are working in the division and around 150 posts are lying vacant,” he added.

The railway officer said that there will be no change in the retirement benefits that the employees were receiving.

The daily remuneration for the work is yet to be decided.