Guwahati: At a time when the Central Government has been claiming to create lakhs of jobs, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) seems to be “firing” its officials on a “regular basis” across the country.
A source said that in May alone at least eight to twelve top-ranking officials were “retired” ahead of their original retirement schedule.
The source said that while the officials “retired” were GM and AGM level officials, the FCI has plans to terminate or retire another 100 employees in the coming days.
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The source added that the people who were terminated were not given any valid grounds but the order copies served to them claimed “interest of the Corporation and public interest in general”. However, what was the interest was not defined.
The employees or officials who were served with the order of retirement were told that they would receive the equivalent of the amount of pay and allowance for three months calculated at the same rate at which they were supposed to be drawing them immediately before retirement.
The source further added that some of the posts that these employees were working in would also be abolished.
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The source also added that some of those who were asked to retire by FCI was sent the retirement order after they were home from work on May 19, 2023, while one of them who was on holiday was sent a mail.
Along with them, 100 more are expected to lose their jobs in the coming days.
The source further added that with the downsizing continuing, FCI’s total strength in terms of employees has gone down to 32000 approximately in 2023 whereas, in 2004 it was more than 75000.
There is some issue with the FCI, the source said.
The source added that apart from downsizing, the FCI is also planning to “asset monetize” around 110 FCI godowns in the country by handing them to private parties.