FACT CHECK: Railways planning to cut 50% overtime, travel allowances of 13 lakh employees?

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A media report is widely being circulated on the internet wherein it is claimed that Indian Railways is planning to cut overtime and travel allowances for 13 lakh employees, in a bid to cover the losses incurred due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown. The reports states that Ministry of Railways is reportedly planning to trim the allowances of employees. So, is railways planning to deduct the overtime and tavel allowances of its employees? Let's find the truth.

The Claim:

The report in the question claimed that allowances for overtime duty including Travel Allowance (TA) of the Railways employees will be deducted by 50 per cent. Also, Railways Board has received a proposal to stop giving overtime incentives to them.

The Fact:

According to the fact check wing of the Press Information Bureau, the claim regarding the overtime and travel allowance deduction of 13 lakh employees by 50 per cent is FAKE. It said that the Ministry of Railways has not proposed to reduce the rates of overtime and travel allowance.

"Railways is not planning to reduce the rates of overtime and travel allowances," it said in a tweet.

Earlier, a WhatsApp message went viral claiming that trains services will stop running from December 1. The message had claimed that Covid special trains which were announced by the government to ferry passengers will also be stopped.

However, the message came out to be fake.

"It is claimed in a #WhatsApp forward that all trains including the #COVID19 special trains will stop operating after 1st December. #PIBFactCheck: This claim is #Fake. @RailMinIndia has taken no such decision on halting of train services after 1st December," fact check wing of the Press Information Bureau said in a tweet.

A lot of misinformation and fake news is circulating on social media platforms ever since the coronavirus pandemic rocked the country. The government had in March suspended the train services to restrict the movement of the people. The services were resumed partially in June. Indian Railways is currently running limited trains with strict Covid protocols in place.

The government has time and again urged the public to avoid falling prey to misinformation and fake news. The Press Information Bureau launched the fact-checking arm in December 2019 to curb misinformation and fake news prevalent on social media. The government encourages people to report suspicious messages.