Railway unions protested against the Centre's decision to put on hold increment in dearness allowance (DA) for its employees and dearness relief (DR) for pensioners due to the coronavirus crisis, saying it was "arbitrary and "demotivating".
The finance ministry on Thursday froze inflation-linked allowance for 50 lakh central government employees and 61 lakh pensioners till June 2021 due to the COVID-19 crisis. However, DA and DR at current rates will continue to be paid, it said.
General Secretary of All Indian Railwaymen's Federation Shiv Gopal Mishra said, "This is an arbitrary and improper decision, and would demotivate railway employees who are working with full commitment and honesty during the crisis, running freight and parcel trains."
"Deferment of DR to the Central government pensioners for such a long period and denial of payment up to July 2021 amounts to treating senior citizens very unreasonably and harshly," he said, adding the railway staff has contributed their one-day salary in PM-CARES fund.
Mishra said that he has already written to the cabinet secretary and the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT) secretary for reviewing the decision because deferment of increment in DA will seriously hurt the finances of serving and retired Central government employees.
National Federation of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR) General Secretary M Raghavaiah appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get the matter reviewed for ensuring payment of DA and DR along with arrears to employees and pensioners when the pandemic blows over.
"Nearly 1.3 million railway employees of all ranks are working in the field, facing several adverse conditions and running the risk of contracting the infection while operating freight trains, parcel specials and other special trains uninterruptedly," he said.
Railway has around 13 lakh employees and over 13 lakh pensioners.
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