Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Thursday met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley seeking financial support to meet the burden of `32,000 crore for implementing of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations for Railway employees.
Sources said that Prabhu requested the Finance Minister to meet the liability for the next 3-4 years following which the national transporter would be able to meet the fund “through gradual adjustments of fares” and other revenue measures in order to absorb the impact from railways’ own resources.
This is the second time within a month that Prabhu has reached out to the Finance Ministry seeking additional help to meet the “unbearable burden” arising in the wake of the Pay Commission. “`32,000 crore is an unbearable burden on the Railway finances. We are talking to the Finance Ministry on how we can deal with this,” Prabhu said.
The Railways, the largest employer with over 13 lakh staff and an equal number of pensioners, is the only Government organisation that meets its staff and pension outgoes from its revenues. Indian Railway’s current salary bill is about `58,350 crore and annual expenses on pensions is over `33,200 crore.
In the given circumstances, railways sought finance cushioning against the hefty 45 percent increase in its 2017 fiscal salary and pension bill from the Seventh Pay Commission.
On the other hand, the railway union too has opposed the new pension scheme and demanded that the employees should be kept out of the ambit of the scheme. All-India Railwaymen’s Federation (AIRF) General Secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra said that the union has urged the Railway Minister to raise the matter with Finance Minister to ensure the Government keeps railway employees out of the ambit of new pension scheme.
Apprising Prabhu about railwaymen’s work in most precarious and arduous conditions, Mishra said, “Many employees lay down their lives while working on duty to keep the nation on move and trains on the run, therefore, like Armed Forces, concept of New Pension Scheme may also be abolished from Railways.”
He said the National Pension System introduced from January 2004 has totally eroded the social security, and the staff appointed on or after this crucial date is always worried about their future. AIRF also raised the issues of 7th Pay Commission recommendations with Prabhu and sought redressal.
Describing the recommendations as “retrograde”, Mishra said the report is not in the interest of railway men. He urged upon the Railway Minister to raise the matter with Ministry of Finance before accepting the report of 7th CPC.