In a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, the Union Cabinet approved several major schemes, including a bonus for railway employees. Recognising the exceptional performance in the railways, the Cabinet has sanctioned a Diwali bonus amounting to Rs 2,029 crore for 11,72,240 railway employees. This productivity-linked bonus is equivalent to 78 days' worth of wages.
The amount will be paid to various categories of Railway staff like track maintainers, loco pilots, train managers (guards), station masters, supervisors, technicians, technician helpers, pointsman, ministerial staff and other Group XC staff, an official statement said. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, "Productivity Linked Bonus for Railway employees of Rs 2,029 cr has been approved by the cabinet for the good performance of railways which will benefit 11,72,240 employees."
Cabinet modifies PLR Scheme
In addition to the bonus, the Union Cabinet also approved modifications to the existing Productivity Linked Reward (PLR) Scheme for employees and workers of Major Ports and Dock Labour Boards. This revised scheme will cover the period from 2020-21 to 2025-26 and is set to benefit approximately 20,704 employees. The total financial outlay for this decision is Rs 200 crore, aimed at enhancing the productivity and efficiency of port operations.
The Union Cabinet introduced changes to the PLR Scheme for employees of Major Ports and Dock Labour Boards, placing greater emphasis on port-specific performance. Under the revised scheme, the weightage for individual port performance will rise from 50 per cent to 60 per cent by 2025-26, while the all-India performance component will decrease to 40 per cent, encouraging competition among ports. The wage ceiling for calculating the bonus has been set at Rs 7,000 per month, ensuring a fair and structured reward system for around 20,704 employees.
Performance of Railways in 2023-2024
According to the government, the performance of Railways in the year 2023-2024 was very good as it loaded a record cargo of 1588 million tonnes and carried nearly 6.7 billion passengers. "Many factors contributed to this record performance. These include improvement in infrastructure due to infusion of record Capex by the Government in Railways, efficiency in operations and better technology etc, the release said. Several railway unions launched a social media campaign on Thursday demanding productivity-linked bonuses based on the Seventh Pay Commission instead of the sixth.
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