Mumbai: Air India's plan to trim its 27,000 bloated workforce by offering a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) is stuck in the North Block, with the Finance Ministry questioning the rationale behind the proposed scheme.
The VRS scheme is "stuck in the Finance Ministry over the payment of Rs 1,200 crore for it. The ministry has pointed out that around 7,000 employees will retire from service over the next three years and another 12,000 will be transferred to the ground handling and engineering subsidiaries," Air India sources said.
This means only about 8,000 employees will be left with the carrier over the next five years, as it has not been hiring for the last couple of years.
19/05/13 PTI/Economic Times
