Covid-19: DMRC announces salary cut of nearly 12,000 employees

NEW DELHI: With train operations shut down for more than four months due to the Covid-19 pandemic and income from other sources also drying up, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has decided to slash salaries of its nearly 12,000 strong workforce.
In an office order issued by DMRC’s HR department, it said that many perks and allowances have been cut ‘in view of the extreme adverse financial condition due to non-operation of Metro services’.
DMRC has decided that the perks and allowances will be reduced by 50% with effect from August, 2020, till further orders. Starting with the salary for August, perks and allowances shall now be payable at the rate of 15.75% of the basic pay, the order states.
DMRC has also kept on hold all sanctions of fresh advances for house building advance (hba), multipurpose advance, laptop advance, festival advance, etc, even though advances already sanctioned will continue to be disbursed. The Advances sought for medical treatment, travel and dearness allowances and composite transfer grant will continue to be granted to facilitate the employees.
Sources in DMRC said that the corporation has tried to keep salary cuts at bay for a long time but zero passenger revenue for more than four months, which resulted in losses to the tune of more than Rs 1,300 crore, has forced DMRC take the step. Sources said salaries of all employees will be substantially impacted by this measure.