Engineers desert railways for greener pastures

V Ayyappan | TNN  Sept 23, 2008 Chennai: Till a couple of years ago, railways was the most preferred employer for a fresh engineering graduate or an engineering diploma holder looking for a central government job. Not anymore. And the sixth pay commission recommendations make matters worse for engineers who work as technical supervisors for railways at maintenance depots, coach factories, mechanical, electrical and signal & telecommunication departments.      Sources said Southern Railway, which has close to 8,000 technical supervisors, is facing attrition of engineers with four to five year experience.      “They leave the railways and take up high paying jobs with the private sector. We are trying hard to stop the exodus,” said a senior railway official. “Engineers with five years service leaving railways are a worry because that is the time they start contributing after settling down,” said a senior railway officer.      Fresh engineering graduates do not take up job offers even though they clear the recruitment tests and interviews. “If 150 candidates are  offered the job after tests and interviews, only 50 candidates join. And at least 20 of them leave before they complete training at the Supervisiory Training Centre at Bangalore, said an official.      However, sources in the Indian Railways Technical Supervisors Association (IRTSA) said that “efforts to retain engineers may not succeed because the new pay commission recommendation has reduced the scope for promotions by merging junior engineer and section engineer posts and provides just 3% increments. This reduces the chance of getting quality engineers in the future.”      Moreover, the railway administration is reluctant to allow engineers with less service to travel higher class during official trips.      “My non-technical subordinate staff will be travelling on air conditioned coach by dint of his service experience while I am only eligible to travel by sleeper class during official tours,” said a junior engineer.      Technical manpower has always been considered as the backbone of engineering intensive railway operations. Even the railways reforms committee and railway accident enquiry committee have recommended a better deal for technical supervisors. But, critics say that the sixth pay recommendations have a powerful slant to the officers of Indian Railway Service (IRS) cadre as it is the case with the armed forces where officers get precedence over others.