Kolkata, Dec 29: Almost three decades after he last reported for his porter’s job, ULFA Commander-in-Chief Paresh Baruah’s name is finally set to be struck off the rolls of the Indian Railways, where he has continued to be ’employed’ despite neither coming to work nor drawing a salary.
An embarrassed Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) recently began an inquiry after discovering Baruah figured in its employee rolls. “Two hearings were conducted on December 4 and December 20. Nobody came forward to either claim this job or offer a representation on behalf of Baruah,” a senior NFR official told.
NFR initially announced a seven-day window following the hearings for claims to the post, but later discovered that according to rules, a 15-day notice was required to be given. “The seven-day notice expired today, but we’ll wait for another week before striking his name off the rolls,” the official said on Monday.
The possibility of anyone responding to the notice is remote; NFR officials, however, said they wanted to play by the book and carry out the full drill before removing Baruah’s name from its list of employees. “The episode has been an embarrassment for the Railways. We are keen to settle this issue for all times,” said an official.
According to available information, Paresh Baruah was employed as a porter in NFR’s Tinsukia Division in 1978 under the sports quota — he was a football player — at a monthly salary of Rs 370. This is believed to have been the last salary he drew. But salary slips in Baruah’s name, showing zero income, have been generated through the last three decades.
The ULFA was formed in April 1979, and was banned by the government in 1990. Home Ministry sources said Baruah was last spotted in Myanmar’s Kachin province, bordering China. Key ULFA leaders Arabinda Rajkhowa, Raju Baruah and Raja Bora have been nabbed recently.
–Agencies