In a piece of good news for Indian Railways employees, the Union Cabinet has granted bonus equivalent to 78 days wages for financial year 2019-20, the national transporter announced on Thursday.

In a statement, the Railway Ministry said, "About 11.58 lakh non-gazetted railway employees have been granted bonus equivalent to 78 days wages for FY 2019-20. This productivity linked bonus to railway employees has been estimated to be of Rs 2,081.68 crore."

The ministry said that the Union Cabinet in its meeting held on Wednesday accepted the proposal of the Ministry of Railways for payment of productivity linked bonus (PLB) equivalent to 78 days wages for the financial year 2019-2020 for all eligible non-gazetted railway employees (excluding RPF/RPSF personnel).

The Ministry said that the wage calculation ceiling prescribed for payment of PLB to the eligible non-gazetted railway employees is Rs 7,000 per month.

The maximum amount payable per eligible railway employee is Rs 17,951 for 78 days, the ministry said.

The Productivity Linked Bonus in Railway covers all non-gazetted railway employees (excluding RPF/RPSF personnel) who are spread over the entire country.

The ministry said that the decision of the Cabinet shall be implemented before the holidays for this year as well.

"For the year 2019-20 PLB equivalent to 78 days' wages will be paid which is expected to motivate the employees for working towards improving the performance of the Railways," it said.

The ministry said that this payment is being  made for last year's performance and even this year during the Covid-19 period,  a lot of hard work has been put in by railways employees in movement of shramik specials, for movement of essential commodities including foodgrains, fertilisers, coal etc and completion of more than 200 vital maintenance projects  during the lockdown period  which would boost safety and all round  efficiency in railway operations.