A delegation of the East Coast Railway Engineers’ Association (ECoREA) discussed with Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi the long-pending issues of railway engineers on Monday.
ECoREA president Bobin Mohanty explained the pay anomaly pending since two decades. He said the non-safety and non-technical railway employees have been given higher pay structures with promotional avenue neglecting the railway engineers who play vital role in safety and economy of railways. Recently accounts staffs were given much higher salary though they are in no way related with train movement.
He further stated that after several demonstrations and the issues being raised in Parliament by several MPs, the pay anomaly of engineers were considered for the first time in a National Council Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM) meeting and the Cabinet Secretary directed the Railway Board Chairman and CEO to expedite the matter. Mohanty told Sarangi that after finalisation by the Chairman, the matter would be sent to the Finance Ministry for approval. However, the upgradation proposal was sent by the Railway Board and DAC in 2009, but till date the Ministry has not agreed in principle. So, now all railway engineers are worried that the same procedure might be repeated by the Finance Ministry.
Mohanty requested Sarangi to impress upon Railway Ministry, Finance Ministry and DOPT for an early approval with justified pay structure which should not be less than accounts staffs.
Sarangi took the matter seriously and assured to raise the issues with the three Ministries very soon. The ECoREA submitted a representation in this regard to Sarangi. IA Khan, SB Satpathy and Jogeswar Sabat of ECoREA were present.