The Railway Board has hiked the dearness allowance for its employees from 42 t to 46 per cent of the basic salary, effective 1 July, 2023.
An official circular to this effect has been sent to all general managers and chief administrative officers of All India Railways and production units.
The welcome announcement comes close on the heels of the Cabinet giving its nod to a bonus of Rs 15,000 crore for government employees. This includes a four per cent increment in DA, as per the 7th Central Pay Commission.
The Railway employees, however, are still pressurizing the government to provide them the DA for the January 2020 to June 2021 period when the pandemic was at its peak.
Very recently, about 13 lakh non-gazetted employees of the Railway received the good news that they will be getting a productivity-linked bonus (PLB) before Diwali. The Union Cabinet gave its approval for 78 days’ bonus to be paid to the non-gazetted employees (Group C and Group D) of the Indian Railways. The disbursement of this bonus will cost about Rs 1,969 crore. The yearly productivity-linked bonus is calculated as per the minimum salary paid to the Group D employees, who form the lowest grade of the workforce. The bonus will benefit train managers (guards), track maintainers, loco pilots, station masters, technicians, supervisors, technician helpers, points men, Ministerial Staff, and other Group ‘C’ staff. However, employees of the Railway Protection Force (RPF)/ Railway Protection Special Force (RPSF) are not included in this PLB.
