Parliament Question: Outsourced employees working in Railways

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 6203 TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.04.2026 OUTSOURCED EMPLOYEES WORKING IN RAILWAYS †6203. SHRI RAMPRIT MANDAL: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has taken cognisance of the fact that outsourced employees working in the Railways and its related undertakings in many places not receiving their salaries and other facilities on time as per the terms of the tender due to which complaints of exploitations of the employees have been received and if so, the details thereof; (b) the details of complaints received from outsourced employees regarding salary, EPF, ESI/other facilities during the last five years, year- wise; (c) the details of the number of contractors/companies found violating the tender conditions and the action taken against them; (d) whether any contractors/companies have been blacklisted/banned by the Government and if so, the details thereof; (e) whether any special committee/monitoring mechanism has been set up by the Government to investigate such cases and resolve employee grievances and if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (e) Indian Railways (IR) executes a wide range of works for creation, repair and maintenance of its various assets including stations, coaches, wagons, coaching depots, locomotives, tracks, etc. pertaining to various departments namely Mechanical, Commercial, Electrical, Civil Engineering, Page 1 of 2 §Signal & Telecommunication, Medical, etc. These works are executed departmentally and/or through outsourcing. Railways as Principal Employer ensures that the outsourced workers are provided facilities by the agencies as per provisions of Labour Laws and ensure compliance with the Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970 and minimum wages notified by the Central/State Governments under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, and EPF & MP Act, 1952. Compliance of the statutory provisions is ensured through conditions incorporated in the agreements made by the Railways. Suitable guidelines are available for dealing with the cases of violation of the above laws, if any, in accordance with the extant laws and guidelines. Action on complaints of delayed payments/ non payment of salaries is dealt with as per agreement conditions and necessary action as deemed fit is taken against the outsourced agency. Further, to effectively monitor the contractual obligations, a comprehensive set of measures are taken at various levels. These include mandatory registration of worker details on the Shramik Kalyan Portal, strict adherence to statutory compliances, protection against arbitrary termination of contractual workers, imposition of penalties for any violations detected, organization of workers awareness camps and the establishment of dedicated grievance redressal mechanisms to ensure timely resolution of concerns. ***** Page 2 of 2