According to PTI, the Railways has weeded out one “non-performer or corrupt official” every three days in the past 16 months, officials said.
Two senior-grade officers were sacked on Wednesday, sources said.
Around 139 officials from the Indian Railways have been asked for Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS). The Indian Railway has agreed on a salary equivalent to two months’ pay for every year of service left under the VRS scheme.
The departments from which the employees have been asked for VRS include electrical and signaling, medical and civil services, and personnel from stores, traffic, and mechanical.
“The (Railways) minister (Ashwini Vaishnaw) is very clear about his missive of ‘performance or perish’. Every three days, we have weeded out one corrupt official from the Railways since July 2021,” an official said, the news agency PTI reported.
In order to remove these corrupt officials and non-performers the Indian Railway has reported:-
- Indian Railways invoked Rule 56(j) of the Department of Personnel and Training.
- As per Rule 56(j), a government employee can be forced to retire or be dismissed after a minimum of three months’ notice or pay has been served.
Most recently, two senior officials were laid off by the Indian Railways on the ground of Corruption.
- One of them of reportedly caught by the CBI for taking a bribe of Rs 5 lakh in Hyderabad.
- The second official was also caught accepting a bribe of Rs 3 lakhs in Ranchi.
Earlier in 2021, Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw took office and he has been vocal about laying off nonperformers. As per reports, he has warned employees multiple times to take “VRS and sit at home” if they did not perform well.
The reports have added that amongst these 139 officials all employees were not laid off. Some of the officials have put in their papers after being denied a promotion or were sent on leave.
In the past year, the Indian Railways have reportedly fired around 177 officials for not performing or due to cases of corruption.
