Bangladesh Railway to embark on recruitment drive, says minister

Bangladesh Railway will appoint around 12,000 new workers to alleviate its shortage of manpower, according to Railway Minister Nurul Islam.

“Currently, 137 stations are shut due to workforce shortage. We’ve taken the initiative to appoint 10,000-12,000 staffers in the first phase,” he said at an event on Thursday.

The railway authorities may post the job advertisements in February and those recruited will be provided with training, the minister added. “We hope to get rid of the workforce shortage in two to three years.”

According to the minister, Bangladesh Railway also suffers from infrastructural scarcity while the risk of accidents and hazards will persist unless double-track lines are introduced.

“We are working on modernising the rail tracks. Rather than giving excuses, we have to work with responsibility.”

The minister inaugurated a few programmes on Thursday, including the construction or revamp of public toilets at railway stations and WASH management development.

“The stations will have environmentally friendly WASH service programme. The railway and WaterAid have already reached an understanding. We have taken up two projects at Kamalapur Station and we will move to other stations soon,” he said.

At least three high-quality public toilets will be set up or revamped in three stations, in collaboration with Bangladesh Railway, said WaterAid Bangladesh Country Director Hasin Jahan.

“Running and maintaining the three public toilets will create a sustainable management model. Public toilets can be run and maintained with their own earnings,” she said.