Govt approves 78-day wages as productivity bonus to railway employees

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved productivity-linked bonus equivalent to 78 days wages to over 11.52 lakh railway employees, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar has said.

This is for the sixth consecutive year that productivity-linked bonus is being given to railway employees.

The bonus for financial year 2018-19 would benefit 11 lakh employees and would cost the exchequer Rs 2024.40 crore, Javadekar said.

Payment of the bonus motivate a large number of railway employees to improve the performance and enhance the productivity levels further, besides maintaining industrial peace, an official statement later said.

However, railway unions are not happy with the benefit and said that they had expected an enhanced bonus.

"We had discussed this issue with the Railway Board at the appropriate level, wherein we had requested for enhancement in the number of days for payment of PLB on account of enhanced productivity given by the railway employees," a letter from the All India Railwaymen's Federation to the Railway Board chairman stated.

"Railwaymen working under arduous conditions in all the weathers had expected some enhanced PLB this year, but unfortunately, that has not been done," it added.

In the letter, general secretary of All India Railwaymen's Federation Shiva Gopal Mishra said though they appreciate the efforts made by the Ministry of Railways for enhanced PLB to railwaymen, it is their submission that, based on the productivity, the ministry should consider "suitable compensation" to railwaymen for the performance they have given last year.