Worrisome Days Ahead For Railway Employees As Board May Reduce Allowances Amid Rising Costs

Worrisome days might be ahead for railway employees as the Railway Board has asked its seven zones to review their expenditure on employee allowances for overtime, night duty and travel, and fuel and maintenance, sources have said, as per PTI report.

In a quarterly review meeting chaired by Railway Board Chairman V K Tripathi, it was found that the Ordinary Working Expenses (OWE) in the current financial year up to May 2022 show that the seven zones have exceeded the Railways' average of 26% increase over corresponding period of previous year, they said.

These zones are Northeast Frontier Railway (37.9%), Northern Railway (35.3%), South Central Railway (34.8%), South West Railway (33.1%), North West Railway (29%), Western Railway (28%) and North Central Railway (27.3%).

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In a reply to a query from PTI, the Railways reportedly said the total working expenses for Budget Estimate 2022-23 is Rs 2.32 lakh crore. As accounts are yet to be audited, the corresponding final figures are only provisional, it said.

"The Railways has issued guidelines on expenditure control and management as circulated by the Ministry of Finance. Austerity and economy measures are being implemented on various fronts. Also, we are optimising fuel consumption and focusing on improvement in inventory management," it said.

The report also mentioned that during the meeting, the Railway Board instructed the zones to take "immediate action" to curtail their expenditure and asked the general managers to make an action plan, the sources said. They added "Controllable expenditure like OT (overtime), NDA (night duty allowance), KMA (kilometreage allowance) should be monitored very closely," the Railway Board has told the general managers.

Railways¡¯ Instructions For Expense Control

IANS

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Additionally, it said zones like Eastern Railway (ER), Southern Railway (SR), North Eastern Railway (NER) and Northern Railway (NR) need to control kilometre allowance -- given to running staff who operate trains -- while South East Central Railway (SECR), East Central Railway (ECR) and East Coast Railway (ECOR) have been asked to reduce their expenditure on night duty allowance.

Also, the North West Railway (NWR), South West Railway (SWR), Western Railway (WR) and Southern Railway (SR) have been asked to control travelling allowance per person.

South East Central Railway (SECR), North Central Railway (NCR), NWR and South Central Railway (SCR) have been asked to review expenditure on medical cost and SCR, ECOR, SR and WR have been asked to review quarter maintenance costs.

The Railway Board said the expenditure on fuel (traction) in nine zonal railways (NFR, NER, CR, SCR, WR, NR, WCR, NCR, SWR) in the current financial year is above Railways' increase of 53%.

Expenditure rise in controllable establishments in eight zonal railways is above the Railways' average of 46.% is a "cause of concern", the Board has said.

It also highlighted the expenditure on fuel other than traction over three zones which has also increased manifold, the review has found.

"As accounts are yet to be audited so corresponding final figures are only provisional. As per provisionals, there is an increase in working expense on account of increase in traffic operations post (Covid) pandemic," the Railways said in a statement.

"Now, as more passengers are travelling, various amenities and auxiliary services have started to incur higher expenditure. Even on freight side, increase in loading also requires better and regular maintenance and also more operation costs in terms of traction bill," it said.

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