CITU alleges illegal appointments in Metro Rly

Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) alleged that Metro Railway has illegally appointed 123 Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Congress supporters in the Group-D category and demanded a CBI enquiry into the appointments.

“Metro Railway has appointed 123 people illegally in Group-D posts. Their only qualification seems to be that they are either TMC or Congress supporters,” Basudeb Acharia, president of Railway Contractors Labour Union (West Bengal), a unit of CITU said.

He said the 123 vacancies, mainly in the position of 'safaiwalas' and 'commercial porters,' were neither advertised nor were candidates taken from employment exchanges.

Acharia, who was chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways for two terms, said he would write to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding a CBI enquiry into the appointments.

The appointments were made in addition to the legal appointment of 572 contractors' workers to the posts of 'safaiwalas' and 'checking assistants,' Acharia said.

Stating that the 572 contractors workers were made permanent following a campaign by RCLU(WB), he said, "their work under the contractors was of regular nature and they had PF, ESI and Group Insurance facilities. But none of the 123 appointees ever worked for the Metro. So how were they given permanent appointment?" Acharia handed out a list of 105 workers with their residential addresses.

He said some in the list had their addresses in the vicinity of the residence of TMC chief and railway minister Mamata Banerjee.

There are others with residential addresses at Singur in Hooghly district, West Midnapore and Barddhaman districts, he said.

Stating that cases of similar illegal recruitments in the Eastern Railway and South Eastern Railway have been brought to the notice of the RCLU(WB), he said the organisation was collecting details of such recruitments.