Employment opportunities: Pakistan Railways to start recruitment drive

Appointments will be made on BPS-1 to 10 positions.

LAHORE:

With the general elections drawing near, Pakistan Railways (PR) is set to initiate a recruitment drive to appoint candidates on BPS-1 to 10 positions, officials told The Express Tribune.

In this regard, the chief personnel officer will chair a meeting with divisional personnel officers on November 12 at the PR headquarters to outline a recruitment strategy, an official familiar with the development said.

The railways ministry had given a nod to PR’s management to start the recruitment process immediately on all vacancies in BPS-1 to 10 positions. The previous policy to recruit candidates on a divisional domicile quota basis has now been changed to a provincial quota basis.

The recruitment process is said to be completed in different phases. In the first phase, all vacant posts of essential cadres, including assistant station masters, guards, assistant drivers and gang men, will be completed. Office subordinates will be inducted in the second phase.

Divisional superintendents are to carry out the recruitments. The recruitment drive will be undertaken in all the provinces; however, Punjab gets the largest share.

Another official said that temporary employees will be regularised before the recruitment drive starts, as new appointments will be made only on vacant posts.

PR previously regularised 4,000 subordinates of various cadres, and the figure currently stands at 86,000, the official added.

PR has been facing financial constraints to carry out its daily operations and the recruitment drive will put an additional burden on the organisation.

The official said that recruitments will be made on a merit basis, adding that the management will conduct written tests to select candidates.

In a bid to increase their vote bank, the government accommodated large number of recruits on the recommendation of ruling party parliamentarians, a senior official said, adding that this was detrimental to the organisation.

PR spokesperson Zubair Shafi Ghauri said the recruitment process will begin in a week or so.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 9^th, 2012.