Kochi: The Railway station masters under Southern Railway have been going through a tough time due to the workload as numerous vacancies of retired staff have not been filled yet. According to reports, 570 posts in Southern Railway remain vacant.
It is learnt that the railway didn’t carry out recruitment to vacancies reported since 2015.
In 2019, Southern Railway has invited applications for the vacant posts. But only a preliminary test was conducted. Further examinations and interviews were interrupted by the COVID pandemic.
Meanwhile, no action is being taken to promote assistant station masters.
At present, vacancies of station master posts are reported in Thiruvanathapuram, Palakkad, Salem, Madurai and Chennai divisions.
The station masters on duty are forced to overwork due to the staff shortage. It is alleged that the authority is not sanctioning leave to the staff on duty.
Even after taking overtime duty, we are not getting off, complained a staff.
Raising the issues, the staff led by the station master observed a strike. The Station Masters Association has decided to protest against the authority’s negligence to address the problems.
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