Rajya Sabha Q&A : Reservation in outsourced railway jobs

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.766
ANSWERED ON 03.12.2021

RESERVATION IN OUTSOURCED JOBS IN RAILWAYS

766# SHRI VISHAMBHAR PRASAD NISHAD: CH. SUKHRAM SINGH YADAV:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

(a) whether provisions of reservation are not being followed in outsourced jobs;

(b) the total number of works being done through outsourced jobs;

(c) whether it is a fact that there are large number of complaints regarding corruption at large scale in outsourced jobs and about paying less wages to the employees by contractors;

(d) whether the Government will consider permanent appointment on the positions which require outsourced job for longer periods; and

(e) the reasons for not doing permanent hiring for the said jobs?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) Reservation is being followed in outsourced jobs.

(b) Indian Railways (IR) executes a wide range of works for creation, repair and maintenance of its various assets including stations, coaches, wagons, coaching depots, locomotives, tracks, etc pertaining to various departments namely Mechanical, Commercial, Electrical, Civil Engineering, Signal & Telecommunication, Medical, etc. These works are executed through its own workers and/or through outsourcing (particularly non-core activities/which are not ongoing permanently) through contracting agencies.

Outsourcing is done by Railways on need basis from time to time in order to improve the services and efficiency in operation and the number of works being done through outsourcing jobs vary from time to time according to requirement.

(c) Complaints regarding less payment of wages are received sporadically, and these are addressed by the Railways promptly. Contractors being the employers of contract labourers are required to abide by the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970 and Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Rules, 1971. Railways as a Principal Employer, inter-alia, incorporates these provisions/rules in the General Conditions Of Contract and monitors compliance, inter-alia through the Indian Railway Shramik Kalyan Portal, etc.

(d) and (e): Occurrence and filling up of vacancies is a continuous process. The policy of Railways is to fill up the vacancies as per its operational requirement.

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