New Delhi: Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the Indian Railways, which is one of the most important modes of transportation across India, has undertaken several decisions to provide safe travel for the migrant labourers.
It reviewed its security, crowd management and enforcement of COVID-19 protocol and also provided necessary facilities for comfortable travel amid the unprecedented coronavirus crisis.
Now, there are reports claiming that the administration is mulling over to deduct the Indian Railways allowances of its employees. It includes the Indian Railways Travelling Allowances (TA) and the overtime allowances.
According to an India.com report, the allowances for overtime duty including the Travel Allowance is likely to be trimmed by 50 per cent. The Railways has also reportedly started to examine the matter and a final call regarding the deduction in the Indian Railways allowances is likely to be taken soon.
Earlier this year, similar reports had emerged that said that the Railways is thinking over the option to cease the salaries and pension of employees for the financial year 2020-21. The Central government, however, had dismissed the report. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) which is the nodal agency for communicating to media on behalf of the Government of India, had clarified that there is no such proposal with the Central government and the report was false and baseless. They had also asserted that the payment under these facilities will continue to be made as per the existing norms.
This is to be noted there are over 13 lakh employees and nearly 15 lakh pensioners in the Indian Railways.
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