Cabinet approves bonus equal to 78 days' wages for around 11.56 lakh Railway employees

The Union Cabinet on October 6 approved a productivity-linked bonus (PLB) for around 11.56 lakh non-gazetted employees of the Indian Railways equivalent to 78 days' wages for 2020-21, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said at a press conference.

The total productivity-linked bonus for railway employees has been estimated to be around Rs 1,985 crore, railway board chairman Suneet Sharma said at a separate press conference.

Moneycontrol had earlier today reported that the cabinet will approve the productivity-linked bonus today.

The wage calculation ceiling prescribed for payment of PLB to the eligible non-gazetted railway employees is Rs 7,000 per month. The maximum amount payable per eligible railway employee is Rs 17,951 for 78 days, Sharma said.

Sharma added that the bonus to the employees of Indian Railways will be given out before Dussehra on October 15.

The productivity-linked bonus on the railways covers all non-gazetted railway employees (excluding RPF/RPSF personnel) who are spread over the entire country.

The Railway Board Chairman added that the Indian Railways has improved its operations in 2020-21 when compared to 2019-20 despite the outbreak of COVID-19.

He further said that following the disruption caused due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the Indian Railways has now restarted sub-urban local train services in Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad now and normal services have been started in these cities.

Sharma added that the railways is also working on a plan to restart sub-urban local train in Kolkata as well soon.

He added that nearly all of Indian Railways' employees have been vaccinated with one does of the COVID-19 vaccine and the railway expects its employees to be fully vaccinated soon.

In 2019-20, the Indian Railways had given its nearly 11.58 lakh non-gazetted employees a bonus of 78 days amounting to a total of Rs 2,081.68 crore.