There is great news for lakhs of railway employees. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet has announced festive bonus for railway employees. In the meeting held today, Wednesday, October 14, the Cabinet has approved a bonus equal to 78 days’ salary. The government has announced productivity linked bonus for all non-gazetted railway employees of the country.
Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav gave information about the decisions taken in the cabinet meeting at 4 pm on Wednesday. In this he told that as a Diwali gift, a decision of 78 days bonus has been taken for the railway workers.
11.40 lakh railway workers benefited
The Union Minister said that the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Modi has approved PLB of 78 days in view of the excellent performance of the railway employees. 11 lakh 40 thousand 770 railway employees will benefit from this. Railway employees will be given Rs 2009.61 crore as bonus.
These railway workers will get Rs 17,951
The maximum amount of bonus for each railway employee is Rs 17,951 for 78 days. This amount will be given to various categories of railway employees.
- station master
- track maintainer
- loco pilot
- Train Manager (Guard)
- supervisor
- technician
- technician helper
- pointsman
- Railway Ministry staff
- Other Group ‘C’ Employees
The Union Minister said that PLB is paid to railway employees every year before the Durga Puja-Dussehra holidays. This year too, about 11.40 lakh non-gazetted railway employees are being paid PLB amount equivalent to 78 days’ salary. This motivates the railway employees to work towards improving the performance of the railways.
Railway employees are given a bonus equal to 78 days’ salary, which is calculated on the basis of minimum salary of Rs 7,000. Accordingly, he has been given Rs 17,951. This limit of minimum salary has not been changed since the year 2014-15, due to which the amount of bonus for railway employees has also not increased for 11 years.
Many organizations of railway employees including IRTSA have demanded to increase the minimum salary limit for bonus calculation from Rs 7,000 to at least Rs 18,000. On this basis his bonus comes to Rs 46,184.
A letter was written to the Railway Minister
Following the demand of railway unions on the issue of railway bonus, Rajya Sabha MP and CPI(M) leader John Brittas had written a letter to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, in which he has requested to increase the number of paid days and amend the calculation limit for bonus for the financial year 2025-26.
According to the letter, railway employees currently get a bonus equal to 78 days’ salary, but the maximum limit of monthly salary for its calculation remains Rs 7,000 since 2013-14.
Citing the demand of labor organization CITU, John Brittas has appealed to increase the limit of bonus calculation to at least Rs 28,440 per month. This figure is said to be based on the assessment of minimum wage and dearness allowance.
He said that considering the time of festivals, the government should take a decision soon, so that the employees and their families can get financial relief.
Demand to increase bonus in Railways for a long time
Railway employees say that productivity linked bonus has been available in Coal India and Steel Authority of India too, but in the last 10 years it has increased by 2 to 3 times, whereas the bonus of Railways has remained stable.
The bonuses of Coal and SAIL employees are continuously increasing year after year. Last year, Coal India employees got a bonus of Rs 1.03 lakh and SAIL employees got about Rs 29,500. This year, there is talk of Coal India employees getting a bonus of Rs 1.10 lakh and SAIL employees Rs 40 thousand. In such a situation, there is some dissatisfaction among the railway employees regarding this difference. However, there is relief that the government has announced the bonus before Durga Puja.
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Source: ndtv.in
