Kochi: The railways caused much heartburn to a group of 28 staff members, who passed the promotion test, by not releasing them for the training at Tiruchirapally on the pretext of staff shortage. Finally under pressure, 11 persons who qualified for the commercial clerks’ posts were released five days after the training started on January 5.
The promotion tests were held for the posts of commercial clerks and ticket examiners in the Thiruvananthapuram division. However, when the training started at the zonal railway training centre at Tiruchirapally, the senior divisional operations manager rejected outright the successful candidates’ plea to release them for the training.
“They have passed the promotion exams and it’s their right to get the promotion now. The staff shortage problem occurred because of insufficient recruitment as a means to cut down operating expenses. Currently the posts of commercial clerks and ticket examiners are lying vacant. There is no justification for the action,” said SRMU divisional president P. Unnikrishnan.
The railway action evoked wide protest, following which the authorities relieved 11 personnel. “We reached Tiruchirapally on Saturday morning. Though we lost five days of training, we’re happy we could make it.
The railways conducted the tests for both the posts (commercial clerks/ ticket examiner) on the same day that resulted in 10 to 12 personnel appearing in both promotion lists. In effect, these posts will lie vacant as they could opt only for one,” a candidate said.
