RailEnquiry

After January 21 hike, officials told to board evening trains to recover fare difference; staffers say extra work being assigned to them while allowances for the last 2 months remain unpaid


Class III and IV railway employees of the Pune division are up in arms over non-payment of various allowances in the last two months and at the same time being given additional responsibilities of recovering the difference in fares following the January 21 hike.

Around 18 Class III employees of the Pune division have claimed while they haven’t received their night allowance, overtime allowance and travelling allowance along with their salaries for December and January, they have to board evening trains after regular duty hours to collect the fare difference. 

They said this has extended their duty period to 12 hours from eight.

“The railway management has ordered 18 employees of the commercial department to travel on trains to recover the fare difference from passengers who had booked their tickets prior to the hike,” said M I Khan, chief booking supervisor.
cording to the officials, the order has been specifically given to chief booking supervisors (CBSs), chief parcel supervisors (CPSs), chief goods supervisors (CGSs) and chief reservation supervisor (CRSs).  These employees have been told to board the Pune-Indore Express and Indrayani Express, which depart in the evening.

“After working for 8 hours, we have to report at 3.30 pm at the ticketing office,” Khan said, adding that no written order has been issued for the purpose.

“Senior Divisional Commercial Manager Alok Badkul has verbally instructed us,” Khan said. Besides this, the 18 employees belong to the senior grade and they have to report to ticket checkers who are from a lower grade.

Now, the National Railway Mazdoor Union (NRMU) has decided to take out a rally at the Pune railway station on February 5 to protest the additional work and demand immediate release of the allowances. 

S C Dhiwar, president,  NRMU, Pune division, said, “The management has no plans to pay the allowances in the next three months. Still we will demand that the allowances be paid immediately.”

Dhiwar claimed there is a huge disparity between the allowances entitled to Class III and IV employees.

“While a Class III employee is entitled to get Rs 200 to Rs 300 night allowance, Rs 300 to Rs  Rs 400 travelling allowance, a class IV employee get only Rs 150 and Rs 250, respectively,”  added Dhiwar.

Refusing to accept the recovery task as additional work, Pune Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) Vishal Agarwal said, “It can’t be called extra work as we can assign any work to an employee within the department.” 

Commenting on the withholding of allowances, Agarwal said, “Presently, we are facing a financial crisis. We are paying the allowances as per the availability of funds.”