With a clear aim to make the Indian Railways a robust, agile and highly efficient system, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has decided to terminate the services of those on unauthorised absence for a long period of time.

The Railways had launched a massive drive to identify long term absentees in various establishments of Railways.

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It has been found that more than 13,000 employees out of the 13 lakh employed by the Indian Railways who are on unauthorised absence for a long time. This means that jobs of 1 per cent of the total workforce will be terminated.

Railways said that the establishment has initiated disciplinary action under the rules to terminate services of such absentees.

According to India’s largest employer, the drive was launched under Goyal’s direction to improve the performance of the organisation and to boost the morale of sincere and diligent employees.

Reports say that the highest number of employees on unauthorised absence were in the East Central Railway, which is headquartered in Hajipur in Bihar and covers Sonpur, Samastipur, Danapur, Mughalsarai and Dhanbad zones.

Railways have instructed all the officers and supervisors to weed out these employees from the employees’ rolls after following due process.