Railways plans to trim salaries and allowances, draws ire of employees

Arya Sharan | TNN | Updated: Apr 21, 2020, 08:05 IST

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HYDERABAD: In an attempt to cover losses incurred by railways due to the coronavirus lockdown, the railway ministry plans to trim salaries and allowances of around four lakh employees, including officers, in the South Central Railway (SCR) zone. However, the move has not gone down well with the rail men.
“The allowance of overtime duty, including travel allowance & dearness allowance (TADA), will be deducted 50% until the train services resume. Patient care allowances (PCA), transportation allowance (TA) and child education allowance (CEA) will also be trimmed 50% to 100% given the circumstances,” the ministry of railways said in a draft recommendation about salary cuts on April 18.
Officials have informed that with all passenger train services suspended they were witnessing a significant drop in revenue, and rail driver-guards would also not be given the allowance, which is provided on a per-kilometre basis on running a train.
According to the draft, there is a need to cut the allowance for overtime duty by 50%. The proposed move has, however, not gone down well with loco pilots (train drivers), guards and engineers, who have been working overtime during the lockdown.
“We are still working almost daily to operate freight trains during the lockdown. Despite staying away from our families, we were informed that we will receive salary cuts,” a loco pilot, working in SCR zone, told TOI. “Due to travelling to far off locations during the pandemic, we are exposing ourselves to health risks. Despite orders to give full salaries to workers, the cuts are unfair,” he added.
Workers from housekeeping services have also informed that during such a time, they have helped develop masks, sanitisers and health essentials after the train services stopped, but they have not received salaries for March yet.
“Indian railway has delayed release of payment to vendors. As an emergency measure, authorities should make payment at the earliest, so that we can pay our employees too,” a railway vendor based in Nacharam said, adding that despite a vendor registration system they were still unable to get timely payment during such trying times.