Prayagraj,

01 May (HS): General Secretary of Indian Railway Employees Federation (IREF),

Comrade Manoj Pandey, termed the directive issued by the Railway Board to

surrender 2% posts in the name of Manpower Rationalisation as a step against

the interest of the Railways and the country and expressed his opposition to

the said decision and directives. He said that through the policies and

directives, Zonal Railways and Production Units and other maintenance units

have been directed to surrender 2% posts from the sanctioned posts till

01.04.2026 as the target for the year 2026-27. The Railway Board will have to

take it back.

Comrade

Manoj said that employees are the backbone of any production but the policies

of the government to continuously lay off employees and to undermine the rights

of daily wage labourers through a few capitalists by adopting contract system

and outsourcing policies cannot be justified in any way.

The

responsibility and accountability for the operation and safety of Indian

Railways rests with railway employees. Due to the immense moral and

administrative responsibility of railway employees, they do not show any

negligence in their work. Despite all the modernization and expansion, railway

employees are still solely responsible for the operation and safe operation of

trains. Expressing anger, the employee leader said that on the one hand, the

exercise of reducing the number of railway employees and on the other hand,

hiring contractors and daily wage laborers through outsourcing/contracting to

do the same work proves that work or production cannot actually be done without

employees, whether government or private.

Therefore,

to ensure the smooth operation and safety of the railways, the number of

government railway employees should be increased rather than reduced.

Recruiting rather than reducing staff is in the best interest of the railways

and the country. It is worth noting that approximately 2.5 to 2.75 lakh vacant posts

in various categories need to be filled immediately. Due to the current

dwindling staff strength, the workload on employees is constantly increasing,

leading to increasing mental pressure on railway employees. Consequently, cases

of employee suicide are being reported from various railway zones. This is a

matter of great concern.

Additionally,

we receive very sad news of track maintenance workers being run over, which is

very unfortunate for the safe operation of the railways. Comrade Manoj informed

that in this regard a memorandum has also been submitted to the Railway Board

in which the Indian Railway Employees Federation has strongly opposed the

policies of retrenchment of employees for safe operation and production of the

Railways and has demanded immediate cancellation of the said order and has

demanded immediate initiation of a new recruitment process to fill the vacant

posts. Giving information about the outline of the movement to stop the

reduction of railway employees, Comrade Manoj said that to make the movement

nationwide, an all-party meeting will be organised in New Delhi in May after

talking to all the railway organisations.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi