How many people did the railways provide employment to in the last 10 years, how many recruitments are in process? Ashwini Vaishnav gave information:

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav on Monday targeted the opposition in the Rajya Sabha and said that it should not make misleading statements regarding recruitment in railways. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that five lakh people have been given employment in the railways in the last 10 years. Vaishnav said that Railways and Defense are two such departments on which there should be no politics because these are the need, backbone and lifeline of the country. He said that if politics is done in these, it will not be good for the country.

Process of one lakh recruitment is going on

Participating in the discussion in the Upper House on the functioning of the Railway Ministry, Vaishnav said that the opposition is alleging that the railways did not make recruitments. Describing the opposition's allegation as "beyond the truth and misleading", he said that in the last 10 years, 5 lakh people have been given employment in the railways. He said that apart from this, the process is going on for one lakh recruitments. He said that the recruitment process is going on in the railways with complete transparency.

Currently 12 lakh employees are working in railways

Vaishnav said that at present there are about 12 lakh employees in the railways, out of which about 40 percent are those who have been appointed in the last 10 years. He said that thus most of the working capacity of the railways is young. Describing the stampede at the New Delhi Railway Station during the Maha Kumbh Mela as painful and tragic, he said that all the data related to the incident including CCTV footage is safe and a high-level committee is investigating it.

Poor people can travel by rail- Vaishnav

He said that learning from this incident, the railways have taken various precautionary measures. He said that the government is committed to providing facilities to the low and middle income groups. He said that rich people can travel by planes or cars but the working class and poor people can travel only by railways.

Number of non-AC coaches being increased

On the opposition's allegation of reducing the number of general coaches in trains, he said that this government works with the spirit of Antyodaya. He said that keeping the common people in mind, the number of non-AC coaches is being increased and currently the number of non-AC and AC coaches is in the ratio of 70:30. He said that 17 thousand non-AC coaches are being prepared.