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Showing posts with label Railway Men. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Railway Men. Show all posts

Tuesday, 29 December 2015

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Wednesday, 7 October 2015

07:56

Indian Railways workers likely to get 78-day bonus

Indian Railways workers likely to get 78-day bonus

Indian Railways workers likely to get 78-day bonus, ceiling Rs. 3500 is likely to remain sameI

ndian Railways employees are likely to be given 78-day wages as productivity-linked bonus (PLB) for the fiscal 2014-15, the same as in the last three years, despite the financial crunch.

The proposal to give 78-day bonus to railwaymen is likely to come up tomorrow at the Cabinet meeting, sources said.

If the Cabinet decides tomorrow for a 78-day bonus then about 12 lakh railway employees will get about Rs 8897 as bonus this month, they said.


There will be about 11 lakh railway employees who will get the benefit of PLB and it is estimated to cost more than Rs 800 crores to the public transporter.

railway emp
In 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 also, 78-day wages were given as PLB to railway employees.
Productivity-linked bonus is paid to railway employees each year before the Dussehra festival.

However, General Secreatry of National Railway Federation of Indian Railwaymen M Raghavaiah said “We are demanding to increase the ceiling of Rs 3,500 per month as Labour Ministry has also advocated for the hike in bonus and we have written to Prime Minister for this.

“But since the election code of conduct is in force, the government has to have special permission from the Election Commission to raise the amount.”

Source:Govemployees.
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Tuesday, 7 July 2015

21:28

Revisionof National Holiday Allowance for Railway Staff

Revisionof National Holiday Allowance for Railway Staff

NFIR
National Federation of Indian Railwaymen
3, CHELMSFORD ROAD, NEW DELHI – 110 055

Affiliated to:
Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC)
International Transport Workers Federation (ITF)

No. 1/5(g)/Part.V

                                                                                       Dated: 03/07/2015

The Secretary (E),
Railway Board.
New Delhi

Dear Sir.

Sub: National Holiday Allowance – Upward revision of rates -reg.

Ref:   (i) NFlR’s PNM item No. 5/2013.
(ii) Railway Board’s letter No. E(P&A)1-2013/FE-4/3 dated 02/05/2014.
(iii) NFlR’s Letter No.1/5(g)/Part.V dated 12/12/2014.

****

While discussing NFlR’s PNM item No. 5/2013 in the PNM meeting, the Official Side stated that the Federation’s reply dated 12/12/2014 has been examined by the Board, but however, it has been found that the demand of the Federation to compute NHA by taking into account DA in addition to Basic Pay and Grade Pay and at one and halftime the normal rate prevalent till 1968 is not feasible of acceptance.

In this connection. Federation desires to state that the view taken by the Railway Board is not acceptable to NHR as it does not contain justified and valid reasons. The Federation places below following facts which are required to be taken into consideration for giving justified decision.

(a) The decision of the Railway Board is a clear departure from its original decision which was based on the concept that the Railway employees who are not permitted to avail National Holiday in the exigencies of services have to be compensated by payment of additional amount equal 11/2 times of pay (pay in pay band + grade pay) and dearnessallowance thereon. The quantum of compensation was clearly laid down which cannot be changed unilaterally by the Railway Board.

(b) The Vth Central Pay Commission though did not favour the continued payment of National Holiday Allowance. had recommended that the staff who are required to be booked on holidays to perform duties. may be paid Over TimeAllowance at the prescribed rates.

NFIR therefore requests the Railway Board to review and accept one of the two options mentioned at (a) or (b) above and grant revision of rates. In case there is still reservation on the part of Railway Board. a meeting may be converted for separate discussion.

Yours faithfully

(Dr. M. Raghavaiah)
General Secretary
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Tuesday, 30 June 2015

07:43

Suresh Prabhu’s proactive approach keeps Railway Officials on their Toes

Suresh Prabhu’s proactive approach keeps Railway Officials on their Toes

New Delhi: Good days are over for the lazy officials of the ministry of railways. Senior railway officials are “upset” with the pro-active approach of railway minister Suresh Prabhu. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has not only been personally forwarding passengers’ complaints to officials but also making sure that actions are taken on them. In case, follow-up is not satisfactory, Prabhu personally hauls up concerned officials.

“Yes, it has become a bit difficult for us in the past few months. The railways is a service provider that operates at such a huge scale all over India and in this context, it is natural that there will be some deficiencies. The minister has been forwarding us complaints received from passengers fairly regularly, and we do try our best to address them. He has also issued warnings that officials ignoring the complaints will be transferred and demoted,” quoting a senior railway official, who requested anonymity.

Moreover, Suresh Prabhu personally monitors his emails and Twitter accounts and ensures that officials take serious note of online complaints. As a result, the railway minister’s Twitter handle is flooded with complaints that have received prompt replies.
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Monday, 22 June 2015

09:46

Modernisation Vs. Investment: How Centre plans to steer Railways back on track

Modernisation Vs. Investment: How Centre plans to steer Railways back on track

The present government has been just over a year in power. It came in with grand plans of revolution. Its problem was that a decade had passed since the BJP was in power and virtually no one who had served in the last BJP government was fit to do so again. The Cabinet was full of novices, and looked in every direction for ideas. The prime minister chose Sadananda Gowda as minister of railways. He was asked to work out a plan for reforming the railways. He looked around, saw Bibek Debroy with little work in NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog, and appointed a committee with him as Chairman. But soon, the PM felt he needed someone more energetic for a ministry that called for action, sent Gowda to law ministry, and brought in Suresh Prabhu in November.

A New Platform

Prabhu met his railwaymen and found they were none too happy with the Debroy committee. It looked like a parking lot for retired elders. Only one member had any experience of the railways. He heard that the Debroy committee was contemptuous of the railways’ antiquated accounts.

So he roped in Vinod Rai, once comptroller and auditor general, as adviser. He shared the railwaymen’s contempt for economists, and shared their view that the railways would have been the world’s envy if the coin counters in North Block had given them money to invest and innovate. So he called up Ratan Tata and made him head of a new innovation council, calling it Kaya Kalp, a name he may have got out of a novel of Marathi writer Shubhada Gogate. He collected ideas from his railwaymen about what needed to be done, put them in a white paper, and released it when he presented the Budget. He recognised that the railways needed investment, which required time to make and to yield fruit. So he promised that by the end of this year, he would come up with a vision document. Debroy may have been disappointed by the sullen faces in the Railway Board, but he did not let himself be discouraged. He submitted a copious interim report in March with a strong message, and a final report with few changes in June. Mystified by the railways’ antiquated system of accounting, the report asked that they should change over to modern, double-entry book-keeping.

Economists think instinctively of competition and privatisation as incentives to efficiency. The Debroy committee recommended divestment of non-core services, such as catering and hospitals run by the railways, to private providers. The Indian Railways (IR) itself is a natural monopoly, and it is impossible to introduce competition (save in the form of road transport). So, the committee recommended a strong, independent regulator of price and service quality, and separation of track and trains so that private competition can be introduced in the latter. As that separation implies, the committee recommended the running of railways to be separated from investment and manufacturing. The railways have created ever more zones and divisions over time to increase the number of senior jobs available on promotion. The committee recommended a decrease in the number. But it wanted decentralisation of powers from New Delhi to the zones. The railwaymen were dismayed by these blithe plans for their dismemberment. The All India Railwaymen’s Federation has decided to observe a Black Day on June 30 in protest against the Debroy report.

Right Signal for Employees

It is Prabhu who lords over the railways, and not Debroy. He will read the Debroy committee’s report carefully, but will follow the inclinations of his railwaymen, which are reflected in the February white paper, “Due to underinvestment, there has been severe congestion on the network and has resulted in the inability of the system to accommodate more trains and increase the speed of trains. “Therefore, the need of the hour is to undertake a massive infrastructure expansion and decongestion programme coupled with upgradation of technology and judicious electrification of tracks along with enhancement of terminal capacity. It is evident that the real issue today is the lack of physical capacity over IR on key routes due to severe congestion and the incremental traffic is being offered on the saturated routes only.”In other words, IR rejects the Debroy committee’s proposals for reorganisation. It thinks it has as good managers as any. Their shortcomings are entirely due to the fact that they were never given enough money to invest and to improve the system. Just give them the money and they’ll deliver. We, spectators, can take any view we like on the two approaches. It is irrelevant. The railways cannot stop. And they can be kept running only by the existing workforce, whatever we think of them. The government will never have the courage to dismantle the railway management, as the Debroy committee wants. It’ll have to make do with the current management, and make only those improvements that it agrees to — and the government gives it money for. Modernisation of railway accounts is a good idea. But for the rest, let us wait for the Ratan Tata committee’s views — and for the money Arun Jaitley may cough up for the railways. (Courtesy: By Ashok V Desai)
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Tuesday, 28 April 2015

07:05

Railwaymen demand special status in salary structure

Railwaymen demand special status in salary structure

Cash-strapped railways may soon have another big headache to contend with. A prominent railway union that met officials of the 7th Pay Commission on Thursday has demanded that railwaymen be categorised ‘differently’ when the commission gets down to finalising the new pay structure.

Why special status?
The reason the union cites is the huge number of deaths and injuries in the line of duty, which according to Western Railway Mazdoor Sangh (WRMS) is second only to the defence forces. WRMS office-bearers, who met Pay Commission chairman AK Mathur and secretary Meena Agarwal in Mumbai, pointed out that between 2007 and 2011, the number of railwaymen killed while on duty was 1,600, and those injured 9,000. Many of those injured have been crippled for life.

Where are the figures from?
They are from the report of the Safety Review Committee headed by Anil Kakodkar, which looked into the ailing railway system and its falling safety standards—safety of both passengers and railway personnel.

Why are rail staff special?
Speaking to dna, JG Mahurkar, general secretary, WRMS, said: “We told the commission that railwaymen deserve a special category like the defence forces. The work we do is arduous, dangerous and round the clock. So equating us with other governmentdepartments on pay structure is unfair. The commission was appreciative and we hope we get special status.”

Why is rail admn worried?
Railway administration is understandably worried. “During the 6th Pay Commission, railways paid the highest amount of (salary) arrears. Railways has the highest workforce under a single management. The amount paid out in 2008 was Rs 74,000 crore, and it bled the railways white,” said a senior official.

What would it cost railways?
Granting special category status would mean another massive pay-out whenever the recommendations of the Pay Commission is implemented, said the official. Railways’ thin finances was highlighted by minister V Sadananda Gowda in his July 8 railway budget speech in which he gave one of the most depressing assessments of railway accounts in recent times. Railways, Gowda told parliament, earned Rs 1,39,558 crore, of which it spent Rs 1,30,321 crore as working expenses in 2013-14 fiscal. Losses are compounded by the fact that thanks to low fares, the loss per-km-per-passenger has increased from 10 paise in 2000-01 to 23 paise in 2012-13.

A dangerous job
On Nov 1, dna front-paged an article on how Central Railway train examiner MA Shaikh died while trying to rectify an electrical fault in a Bandra-CST local. Shaikh, called in to look into the malfunctioning of a train early on Oct 31 morning, fell and had his legs severed when he leaned out of the running train to check if the overhead apparatus was working. The incident occurred close to Dockyard station and Shaikh’s colleagues told dna that such risks were part and parcel of all railway employees. Gangmen and pointsmen, theemployees who walk along the tracks looking for and rectifying faults, remain the most vulnerable with the number of deaths among them being among the highest, said railway union office-bearers.

Figure this
No. railway employees killed between 2007 and 2011: 1,600.
No. railway employees injured between 2007 and 2011: 9,000 (many of those injured have been crippled for life).
Pay-out (arrears) as per Pay Commission recommendations in 2008: Rs 74,000cr.(Railways has the highest workforce in India under a single management).
Amount railways earned in 2013-14: Rs 1,39,558cr.
Amount railways spent in 2013-14: Rs 1,30,321cr.
Loss per-km-per-passenger in 2000-01: 10 paise.
Loss per-km-per-passenger in 2012-13: 23 paise.

 Source:Railnewscenter
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