Lok Sabha Question No. 2848 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-03-15
Subject: Shortage of Staff in FCI
Ministry: CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
Asked by: KAMLA DEVI PATLE

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

## DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2848 TO BE ANSWERED ON 15 th  MARCH, 2016

## SHORTAGE OF STAFF IN FCI

2848. SHRIMATI KAMLA DEVI PAATLE:

Will  the  Minister  of  CONSUMER  AFFAIRS,  FOOD  AND  PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION miHkksDrk ekeys] [kk| vkSj lkoZtfud forj.k ea=h be pleased to state:

- (a) whether there is an acute shortage of workers and employees in the Food Corporation of India (FCI);
- (b) if so, the details thereof and efforts made to meet the said shortage;
- (c) whether  the  FCI  proposes  to    containerise  the  transportation  of foodgrains; and
- (d)
- if so, the details and the likely benefits thereof?

## A N S W E R MINISTER OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION (SHRI RAM  VILAS PASWAN)

- (a)      Yes, Madam.
- (b)     The position in respect of workers is as under:
- FCI has three types of Departmental workers i.e. Regular Departmental, under Direct Payment System (DPS) and under no Work No  Pay  system.  Besides  these  FCI  also  arranges  workers  through contracts, wherever there are no Departmental works restriction.
- Based on settlement with workers unions and notification of some of the depots of FCI and railheads for its operations under the Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition), Act, 1971, the required strength of Regular Workers was worked out as 49529 in 2007.
- However,  after  2007,  there  have  been  tremendous  changes  in  the volume and pattern of  operations  in  FCI  Depots  due  to  variation  in procurement and distribution levels across the country coupled with retirement of workers. There is presently a shortage of 8687 workers at all India level, even though at micro level some of depots still have surplus labour.

- As per the directions/observations given by Hon'ble Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court, requirement of Regular workers in settlement/notified depots  are  being  rationalized  through  labour pooling/ transfer from depots having surplus workers to depots having deficit workers.

The  details  of  required  workers  along  with  current  strength        and shortfall are as under:

| Type of worker             | Type of worker             | Required Strength   |   Current Strength (As on 31.12.2015) |   Shortfall |
|----------------------------|----------------------------|---------------------|---------------------------------------|-------------|
| Own                        | Departmental               | 18964**             |                                 15723 |       -3241 |
|                            | DPS                        | 31659**             |                                 25651 |       -5008 |
|                            | NWNP                       | 7857*               |                                  7419 |        -438 |
| Total of 'Regular Workers' | Total of 'Regular Workers' | 58480               |                                 48793 |       -8687 |

- As regard efforts made to meet the shortage, High Level Committee headed  by  Shri  Shantakumar,  Hon'ble  Member  of  Parliament  (Lok Sabha) has recommended that after denotification of notified depots, contract labour may be deployed in FCI depots to reduce the cost of handling.
- Hon'ble High Court of Bombay, Nagpur bench had also directed Govt. of India to denotify the notified depot so that workers may be pooled in  few  depots  and  contract  workers  be  deployed  in  the  vacant released  depots  to  optimize  the  cost  of  handling  as  the  regular workers  under  department  category  are  more  than  8  times  higher than the contract workers.
- In view of HLC recommendations and High Court directions as above there is presently no planning to induct any labour in FCI.
- The position in respect of employees is as under:
- Against Sanctioned Strength of 36982 employees, only 21139 regular employees  are  in  position  (as  on  31.12.2015)  &  hence  at  present there are 15843 vacancies.
- The Category-wise break-up is given below:

| Category     |   Sanctioned strength |   Men in position |   Vacancy/ Excess |
|--------------|-----------------------|-------------------|-------------------|
| Category-I   |                  1111 |               855 |              -256 |
| Category-II  |                  6221 |              4164 |             -2057 |
| Category-III |                 27270 |             12487 |            -14783 |
| Category-IV  |                  2380 |              3633 |             +1253 |
| Total        |                 36982 |             21139 |            -15843 |

A  detailed  note  on  efforts  being  made  to  fill  up  the  vacancies  of employees are given  in Annexure.

- (c):   Yes, Madam.

(d): FCI  transports  foodgrains  from  surplus  regions  to  deficit  regions. About 45 million tonnes of foodgrains per year are transported using the most economical mode for a particular route. About 90% of foodgrains is transported through Railway using conventional rakes, both BCNA (Broad Gauge Body Covered Air Brakes) and BCNHL (Broad Gauge Bogie Covered Air Brakes-Heavy Load) wagons.

The  conventional  rakes  are  readily  provided  by  the  Indian  Railway and can operate on all railheads across the country. For transportation of such large quantity of foodgrains, conventional Railway rakes are operationally and economically most effective.

FCI is using containers for bulk movement of foodgrains from Kaithal (Haryana)  and  Moga  (Punjab)  base  silos  in  procuring  regions  to  Taloja (Maharashtra), Madukurai (Tamil Nadu), Elavur (Tamil Nadu), Malur (Karnataka)  and  Bandal  (West  Bengal)  field  silos  in  consuming  regions. Containers  are  also  used  in  coastal  transportation  of  foodgrain  from Andhra Pradesh to Kerala.

Containerized movement on these routes have provided operational advantages of controlling transit losses.

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ANNEXURE ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (B) OF THE UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2848 DUE FOR ANSWER ON 15.03.2016  IN THE LOK SABHA.

- FCI is in  the process for filling up of 5596 vacancies across all cadres  (Category-I-22,  Category-II-374  and  Category-III-5200)  by the way of competitive Recruitment process. The Advertisement for  the  above  Recruitment  process  was  published  during  the period from February, 2015 to July, 2015.
- Final result in respect of Cat.III of North East Zone-211 vacancies has been declared and 160 candidates have already joined. Final result of West Zone-821 vacancies and South Zone-1322 vacancies has already been declared and process of issuance of Offer of Appointment is under process. Final result in respect of East Zone-675 vacancies is likely to be declared by this week. The Written Test for 2171 vacancies of North Zone has already been conducted  and  the  document  verification  process  of  Phase-I  is completed and for Phase-II of Document Verification is likely to be held in 3 rd  week of March, 2016.
- The  result  of  the  written  test  in  respect  of  Category-I  was declared  on  04.02.2016  and  interview  of  shortlisted  candidates will be held from 19 to 21 March, 2016.
- Moreover,  the  recruitment  process  of  Management  Trainee  (MT) 374 vacancies, the written Test has been conducted on 25.10.2015. Result of Written Test is likely to be declared by 3 rd Week of March, 2016. This will be followed by interview and Group discussion.

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