Over 2.98 lakh positions were vacant at Railways as on June 1, 2019. The recruitment process is going on for more than 2.94 lakh employees, as per the government. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal stated in the Lok Sabha that more than 4.61 lakh people were recruited in Railways over the last decade.
Mr. Goyal further added, “Noting that filling up of vacancies is an ongoing process, and cadre strength is decided after taking into consideration various factors, such as the leave reserves and trainee reserves.”
"The number of employees was 16, 54,985 in 1991 and 12, 48,101 in 2019. However, this has not affected the service of Railways," Mr Goyal mentioned in his written reply.
It is to be noted that, the railway vacancies are filled through the Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) and Railway Recruitment Cells (RRCs). According to the data provided in the written reply, there were around 2, 98,574 vacancies across A, B, C and erstwhile D categories at the Railways as on June 1, 2019.
"Examinations have been conducted for 1,51,843 posts and will also be held for 1,42,577 posts in 2019-20, for which employment notification were issued in 2019, while taking the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota into account," Mr Goyal stated.
Adding to it, he also mentioned that output and quality of service depends not only on workforce but also on the extent of use of technology and automation of systems. Hence, it is not correct to correlate the quality of service with employee strength," Mr Goyal said.
