FinMin for closure of schemes; job cuts likely

 "The Finance Minister has already instructed the ministries concerned that the surplus manpower should either be absorbed elsewhere or adjusted as per the existing guidelines," they said.

According to the existing guidelines on relocation of manpower, the employees who would be rendered surplus following closure of the schemes would be put in the surplus cell of the government for a year and the ministries would be asked to accord preference to them while ascertaining their manpower needs.

"Even after a year if they remained unemployed, then they could be forcibly retired," sources said.