Railway employees under the aegis of the Southern Railway Engineers’ Association will hold a mass dharna before all administrative offices of the Indian Railways on Friday.
A statement issued by railway engineers claimed that the dharna was in protest against the “ill-treatment and stepmotherly treatment” of around 80,000 junior engineers and senior section engineers in the Railways.
The statement added that though the engineers were described as the “backbone of Indian Railways” in reports on railway safety, they were a neglected lot. “We are neglected in all aspects by the Railway Board,” it said. The Engineers’ Association, the statement said, had been demanding that medium-level engineers be raised to the status of Group B in Central service in accordance with the practices in Central services. However, the pleas have gone unheard, it added.
The engineers have been a “neglected” lot during the period between the third and seventh pay commissions, the statement said. It demanded better pay scale, implementation of Group B status, time-bound promotion, and “uplift” of status.
