Indian Railways to start computer based tests for notified vacancies from Dec 15

The Indian Railways has decided to start Computer-based tests (CBTs) from December 15 this year for 1.40 lakh notified vacancies, Railway Board Chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav said on Saturday.

The notified vacancies, for which the Railway Recruitment Boards received over 2.40 crore applications, include those of guards, office clerks, commercial clerks, stenos, track maintainers and pointsman.

"Indian Railways had notified 1.40 lakh vacancies before the COVID-19 situation emerged. A total of 2.42 crore applications were received. The scrutiny of applications has been concluded," Yadav told .

He said that the examinations could not be held due to the situation created by COVID-19.

"A decision has now been taken that computer-based tests will commence from December 15 onwards. A detailed schedule will be released shortly," he said.

Railway Board Chairman said three types of vacancies have been notified by the Indian Railways.

"One category is NTPC (Non-Technical Popular Category), the second is Level 1 and third is isolated and ministerial category. There are 35,208 vacancies for NTPC category (guards, office clerks, commercial clerks, etc), 1,663 for Isolated and Ministerial categories (steno, etc), and 1,03,769 for Level 1 vacancies (track maintainers, pointsman, etc)," he said.

The Railway Ministry has initiated necessary action to commence first stage online computer based tests.

Yadav said that Assistant Loco Pilots (ALP), who have been selected in the exams will be issued appointment letters soon after the board formalises the modalities of the training programme for this post amid the COVID-19 situation.

"Whoever has been selected in the ALP exam will be issued appointment letters soon. ALPs have to undergo training after joining. We are planning how the training programme can be held in the wake of the COVID-19 situation. This training is held on the field and thus precautions have to be taken in the current situation. A decision will be taken soon on the issue and no one needs to be worried about it," he said.

A Railway Ministry release said that Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) are committed to holding the CBT for all the notified vacancies and have been actively assessing the ground situation due to pandemic.

"Now that experience of conducting examination for the JEE for IITs and NEET is there, it was felt that Railways too can start the process which had to be stopped due to COVID pandemic," the release said.

It said that standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the conduct of examination of this magnitude were being framed.

"Norms of social distancing and other protocols prescribed by various central and state authorities need to be followed which are essential in the interest of the safety of candidates," the release said.

( With inputs from ANI )