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New Delhi: The Railways is considering speeding its recruitment process to cut short the time taken for the long process from 2 years to six months. Of the many suggestions in this regard introducing online tests in place of the pen and paper based examination might get introduced.
As per information available with PTI, the suggestions to move ahead in this regard came during a meeting of general managers with Railway board chairman Ashwani Lohani in November.
“The process of recruitment takes too long, taking almost two years since submission of application. Many candidates get alternative jobs, leading to poor materialisation of indents (vacancy notice). With online tests etc the process should be speeded up,” general manager of Northeast Frontier Railway Chahatey Ram suggested in the meeting in the presence of 17 GMs.
In response to the suggestion, the board chairman had said that the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) should review the process “with a target to complete it within six months”.
The board has instructed its departments to submit their proposals on the issue by 20 December.
This apart the zonal managers had also suggested that the vacancy notices which is generally published by the Railway Board after the zones submit the necessary post requirement details should instead be placed by the zones.
Meanwhile, sources said the board is considering the matter and is reviewing the ways to speed up the process.
Presently the Railways which is the largest employer in the country has a staff strength of more than 1.3 million. Its employees take care of the country’s 66,030 km of tracks, 10,773 locomotives, 63,046 coaches and 2.45 lakh wagons. The transport behemoth ferries over 20 million passengers daily.
It has staff crunch in lower divisions like Group C and D. As per information available, the Railways has 122,911 vacancies in safety categories and a shortage of another 174,64 loco running staff which include drivers, guards, gangmen and other technical staff.
