Parliamentarians from across the political spectrum on Tuesday raised the issue of delay in recruitment in the Indian Railways and also accused the government of planning to privatize the sector.
The lack of jobs in the railways was at the core of widespread protests in UP and Bihar, perhaps the country’s first large-scale unemployment riots in January this year.
Initiating the debate on Demand for Grants for Railways 2022-23 in Lok Sabha, Congress member K Suresh accused the government of running the Railways in an inefficient manner and misappropriating the allocation of funds.
“… This government also wants to privatize Indian Railways. Air India is already sold. Now the next step of this government is Indian Railways. It will happen very soon,” said Suresh. He asked the Railway Minister. Indian Whether the railways will remain under the Government of India or not.
CPM leader AM Arif accused the government of planning to privatize the Indian Railways “in the name of modernisation”. He alleged that the government was “deliberately” delaying recruitment. “A total of 2.63 lakh vacancies are incomplete in Railways. The government is deliberately not filling the vacancies and squeezing the existing employees by giving them extra hours of work. This will reduce efficiency, and then the government will say ‘because railways is inefficient, it should be sold to private players’, he said.
Echoing Arif’s views, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader NK Premachandran said the railways was witnessing “gradual privatization” since 2014 and called for opposing it “tooth and nail”.
JD(U) MP SitamarhiSunil Kumar Pintu of Bihar said that after the Kovid epidemic, the demand for jobs has increased among the youth.
“Recently, two lakh students appeared in the railway exams. Even his medical examination has been done. Please provide jobs to the passed out students,” he said.
His party colleague and MP Chandeshwar Prasad said the SC/ST community was being affected the most by the delay. “Railway vacancies are not being filled. How will people get employment if the vacant posts are not filled? he said.
BJD MP Bhartrihari Mahtab, while highlighting the poor operating ratio of the Railways, said: “The minister has said that he is targeting 96.98% operating ratio. But the Railways’ operating ratio has deteriorated to 98.93% in 2022 in the Revised Estimates. This is down from an estimated 96.15 percent for that year.
TMC MP Aparupa Poddar slammed the government over the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train, saying work on the line, which is to be completed by 2023, has not started. “The bullet train project is failing,” she said.