No plan to cut jobs: Railways

New Delhi : The Railways on Tuesday clarified that the letters sent to zonal offices to identify employees above the age of 55 years and those who have completed 30 years in service were for a "routine" performance review.

The clarification came amid speculation that the national transporter was in the midst of compulsorily retiring a sizeable number of its employees.

This review, the Railways said in a statement, was laid down by the Railway Establishment Code and was required to be conducted by the administration in "public interest".

"Letters have been issued to railway zones/production units merely by way of reiteration to conduct the routine review of performance of the railway employees in pursuance of service conditions," the statement said.

"It is a routine exercise which is required to be conducted by the administration in public interest and the same has been conducted in previous years as well.

Any reference regarding the number of employees being retired under such rules is thus without any substance," it added. The Railways said it had recruited approximately 1,84,262 employees in various categories during the period of 2014-2019.

An exercise for the recruitment of 2,83,637 staffers is underway and examinations have already been conducted for 1,41,060 posts. The process shall be completed within the next two months, it said.