Cabinet approves 78-day bonus for railway employees

All non-gazetted railway employees will be eligible for the bonus

As a festive sop, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the payment of Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) for railway men, equivalent to 78 days wages. This will have a financial impact of Rs 2090.96 crore this year. 

All non-gazetted railway employees — excluding Railway Protection Force and Railway Protection Special Force — will be eligible for the bonus. 

The payment of bonus will be made before Dussehra and Puja holidays. "Payment of PLB would result in motivating a large number of railway employees to improve the performance of the Railways and enhance the productivity levels further besides maintaining industrial peace," the government said in a statement on Wednesday.

Productivity-linked bonus is paid to about 12 lakh railway employees every year. During the last financial year, the minimum bonus paid was about Rs. 8,975 per employee.