PremiumThe Railway Minister announced that under the new policy, a provision has been made to promote 50 per cent of employees from Level 7 to Level 8.
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday said the supervisor cadre employees will be able to get a direct promotion. Under this policy, the Railway Grade-6 employees will be able to get a direct promotion.
Around 80,000 railway employees facing stagnation in their jobs now have an opportunity to improve their pay scale with the national transporter announcing a new provision under which its supervisory cadre will have a chance to reach higher pay grades equivalent to Group A officers.
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that there was stagnation in the supervisory cadre of railways in Level-7 and the scope of their promotion was negligible. "We had 80,000 supervisors. For the last 16 years (from 2006) there was a long pending demand for the upgradation of the supervisory cadre. The only scope of promotion was the selection in 3,712 vacancies by appearing in Group 'B' examination.
The Railway Minister announced that under the new policy, a provision has been made to promote 50 per cent of employees from Level 7 to Level 8.
"Provision has been made for the promotion of 50 people in non-functional grade in 4 years from Level-8 to Level 9. This will directly benefit 40,000 supervisors and all will get an average extra salary of ₹2,500-4,000 per month. Railways has also started identifying the employees coming under the ambit of promotion," Vaishnaw said.
"There was a long pending demand for upgradation of supervisory cadre since the last 16 years. The only scope of promotion was selection in 3,712 vacancies by giving exam in Group 'B'. Now provision has been made for 50 per cent people from Level 7 to go to Level 8.
The Minister said that supervisors of civil mechanical, electrical, S&T traffic, chemical and metallurgical, stores and commercial departments would benefit from this policy.
Pertinent to mention, the new policy of promotion in Railways has been approved by the union government and is implemented with immediate effect.
The move is expected to benefit 40,000 such supervisor grade employees like station masters, ticket checkers, traffic inspectors, among others whom the minister described as "field level workers".
The push in pay grade means that everyone will get an average of ₹2,500 to ₹4,000 per month extra salary.
This will entail a ₹10,000 crore increase in the wage bill, but the minister said the step will be financially neutral as it will be compensated primarily from the savings that the railways has made in its diesel bill.
This will benefit supervisors of civil, mechanical, electrical, S&T traffic chemical and S&T, metallurgical, stores, and commercial departments.
"As a result of vigorous persuasions of the All India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF) with the Ministry of Railways as well as DoP&T and MoF(DoE), the proposal of the Railway Board regarding upgradation of pay scales of supervisors from erstwhile GP (grade pay) ₹4,600 up to ₹5,400, has been approved by the finance ministry...," Shiva Gopal Mishra, general secretary, AIRF said.
*With inputs from agencies