Railways retires 19 officials in a day

Amid growing pressure for performance, the Indian Railways on Wednesday retired 19 of its officials who had adverse vigilance reports.

The offices, who have been retired include four officials each from the electrical and signaling services, three each from medical and civil, two from personnel, and one each from stores, traffic and mechanical, sources in the railways said.

Other than this, in the last 11 months, 96 officials were forced to take VRS, which included senior officials like general managers and secretaries, the sources said.

These 96 officials who put in their papers and decided to opt for VRS are those who have been denied promotion or sent on leave or circumstances have been created to force them to opt for retirement.

The Union government has been conducting performance studies of each officer in the railways to weed out non-performers, sources said.

Soon after taking charge last year, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had warned slackers that they would be shown the door if they do not perform.