Thursday, February 25, 2016

NFIR - Highly disappointing Rail Budget

disappointing-railway-budget-NFIR
Railway Minster did not make any announcement for making payment of PL Bonus at revised rate of 7000
 NFIR
National Federation of Indian Railwaymen
3, CHELMSFORD ROAD
, NEW DELHI – 110 055

Press Statement

Highly disappointing Rail Budget
 
The National Federation of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR) expresses its serious disappointment over the Rail Budget (2016-17) presented by Shri Suresh Prabhu, Railway Minister in the Parliament on 25th February 2016. According to the President and General Secretary NFIR Shri Guman Singh and Raghavaiah, the Rail Budget document is “towards journey for privatization of Indian Railways in the name of transformation”. It is sad to note that the Railway Minister has not given due recognition to the dedicated services being rendered by various categories of Railway employees who toil hard day and night.
NFIR leaders said that the Rail Budget is totally uninspiring and on the contrary generating resentment among Railway employees as the aim of the Budget is to “aggressively implement privatization, outsourcing” of regular Railway activities.
NFIR expressed its unhappiness as the commitments given by the previous Railway Ministers thro’ Budget announcements have not been fulfilled notably: Free Medical treatment to the dependant parents of Railway employees and construction of New Railway quarters under the corporate welfare plan drawn up years back by the Railway Ministry. The announcement of previous Railway Ministers on the floor of the Parliament that “House for all” has unfortunately been forgotten.
It is quite disappointing that although the Bonus Act has been amended w.e.f. 01.10.4.2014 for calculation of Bonus rates to Rs. 7000/- p.m., the Railway Minster did not make any announcement for making payment of PL Bonus to Railway employees at revised rate of Rs. 7000/- p.m. for the year 2014-15.
NFIR said that the condition of Railway colonies and Railway quarters are totally deteriorated. The Rail Budget has not addressed this welfare aspect adequately.
The Federation expresses its anguish over the failure of Railway Ministry in filling up vacancies of 2.5 lakh vacancies in Railways, out of which over 1.5 lakh vacancies belong to safety categories.
The Federation also expresses its unhappiness over the non-allocation of adequate resources for improving the Railway Hospitals, Health Units and creating Super Specialty facilities atleast in the Zonal Railway Hospitals. The long pending demand of NFIR for making provision of Road Mobile Medical Vans for ensuring Medical treatment to the Railway employees working at remote places, jungle areas, has not been given due priority in the Rail Budget.
NFIR is also of the view that the Rail Budget has not satisfied any section of people.
sd/-
(Dr.M.Raghavaiah)
General Secretary
Source: NFIR

RAILWAY BUDGET 2016-2017 : No Hike in Passenger Fare

RAILWAY BUDGET 2016-2017 : Ministry of Railways
railway-budget-2016-2017

  • No Hike in Passenger Fare
  • 65,000 Additional Berths and 17,000 Bio Toilets to be Installed
  • Operations Audit to Improve Punctuality of trains Proposed
  • Wi Fi Facilities in 400 more Stations
  • Stations to be Developed Under PPP Mode
  • Award of Civil Contracts for Dedicated Freight Corridor to be Over by the end of this Financial Year
  • Capacity of E-Ticketing System to be Enhanced
  • Increased Quota of Lower Berth for Senior Citizens and Women
  • 820 Robs / Rubs constructed
  • Operating Ratio to Increase from 90% to 92% Proposed
  • Nargol- Hazira Port Connectivity to be taken up under PPP Mode
There is no hike in passenger fare in this year’s Railway Budget. Presenting the Railway Budget 2016-17 in the Parliament today Railway Minister Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu said the budget seeks to fulfil the long-felt desires of the common man such as reserved accommodation on trains available on demand, time tabled freight trains, high end technology to improve safety record, elimination of all unmanned level crossings, improved punctuality, higher average speed of freight trains, semi high speed trains running along the golden quadrilateral, zero direct discharge of human waste by the year 2020. He said Cabinet approval has been received for re-development of stations under PPP mode.

Shri Suresh Prabhu said the Indian Railways budget proposes to overcome challenges by Reorganizing Restructuring and Rejuvenating Indian Railways with the Slogan “Chalo, Milkar Kuch Naya Karen’”. The strategy for this will have three pillars i.e. Nav Arjan – New revenues, Nav Manak – New norms, and Nav Sanrachna – New Structures.

In order to make travel on Indian Railways more comfortable, the Indian Railways proposes to give more facilities to the passengers . 65,000 additional berths will be provided in the trains and 2500 water vending machines will be installed . The railways have developed world’s first Bio-Vaccum toilet and 17,000 Bio-toilets will be provided in the trains. With the purpose of improving punctuality of trains operations audit from Ghaziabad to Mughalsarai section will be introduced. The Indian Railways proposes to introduce 1,780 Automatic Ticket Vending Machines all over the country with mobile apps and GoIndia smartcard for cashless purchase of UTS and PRS tickets. The capacity of e-ticketing system will be enhanced from 2,000 tickets per minute to 7,200 tickets per minute to support 1,20,000 concurrent users as against 40,000 earlier. 400 more stations will be provided with Wi Fi facilities.

As a part of social initiatives, online booking of wheelchairs and Braille enabled new coaches will be introduced for the Divyang. Increased quota of lower berths for senior citizens and women and reserving middle bays for women in reserved coaches has been proposed. Passengers security will be enhanced through more helplines and CCTVs.

To reduce accidents at level crossings, the budget proposes to eliminate 1000 unmanned level crossings and closures of 350 manned level crossings. 820 Rail Over Bridges (ROB)/ Rail Under Bridges (RUB) will be completed during the current financial year and work is going on in additional 1350 of them.

Referring to the progress of Dedicated Freight Corridor Project the Railway Minister said that almost all contracts for civil engineering works will be awarded by the end of this financial year. He said Rs.24,000 crore worth contracts were awarded since November 2014 as against Rs. 13,000 crore contracts awarded during the last six years. Shri Prabhu said Railways proposes to take up North-South, East-West and East Coast freight corridors through innovative financing including PPP.

Underlining the importance of Jammu and Kashmir and North East the Minister said work on Katra-Banihal section of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project is progressing satisfactorily and 35 kms of tunnelling out of total of 95 kms has been completed. He said decongestion work on Jalandhar – Jammu section is in full swing and doubling of two bridges will be over by next month, while the other two bridges will be completed by 2016-17. In North East , Mizoram and Manipur will shortly come on BG map of the country with commissioning of the Kathakal-Bhairabi and Arunachal-Jiribam Gauge conversion projects.
Giving the progress card of port connectivity projects the Minister informed that Tuna Port connectivity project has been commissioned and rail connectivity projects to ports of Jaigarh, Dighi, Rewas and Paradip are under implementation. He said implementation of rail connectivity for the ports of Nargol and Hazira will be taken up under PPP in 2016-17.

Referring to the financial performance the Minister said during 2015-16 a saving of Rs.8720 crore could be achieved neutralizing the most of the revenue shortfall with operating ratio of 90%. He said the budget proposes operating ratio of 92%, restricting growth of ordinary working expenses by 11.6% after building in immediate impact of 7th PC, reduction in diesel and electricity consumption and Revenue generation of Rs. 1,84,820 crore for 2016-17. He said during 2015-16 investment would be close to double of average of previous five years.

Shri Suresh Prabhu said Railways would be able to achieve annualized savings of Rs.3000 crore in the energy sector during the next financial year itself, a year earlier than announced. He said this could be achieved by procuring power directly at competitive rates.

The Railway Minister said social media will be used as a tool to bring in transparency. All procurement including procurement of works will be moved to e-platform. He said the trial of awarding tender electronically was successful and it will be rolled out on Pan India basis in 2016-17.

Giving an outline of the way ahead, the Minister informed Parliament that his Ministry proposes to take various measures to improve quality of travel which will include introduction of unreserved superfast Antyodaya Express Trains, introduction of Tezas train with the speed of 130 Km. and above with onboard entertainment and Wi Fi etc., unreserved Deen Dayalu coaches with portable water and higher number of mobile charging points and introduction of AC and non AC double decker trains on busy routes with the potential to increase carrying capacity by almost 40%. Sale of tickets through hand held terminals; e- ticketing facility to foreign debit/credit cards; bar coded tickets, expansion of Vikalp – train on demand to provide choice of accommodation in specific trains to wait-listed passengers. E-booking of tickets facility on the concessional passes available to journalists; facility of cancellation through the 139 helpline post verification using ‘One Time Password’ sent on registered phone number, CCTV cameras on tatkal windows and periodic audit of PRS website will also be introduced.

Shri Suresh Prabhu said it is proposed to convert all operational halts into commercial halts for the benefit of common man. The Minister said Sarathi Seva in Konkan Railway will be expanding to help the old and disabled passenger. The existing services for enabling passengers to book battery operated cars, porter services, etc. on a paid basis in addition to the existing pick up and drop, and wheel chair services will be strengthened. All stations under redevelopment will be accessible for Divyang. There will be at least one Divyang friendly toilet at each platform in A1 class stations during the next financial year and availability of wheelchairs in sufficient numbers at these stations will be ensured. Children’s menu items, baby foods, hot milk and hot water would be made available under Janani Sewa.

SMART (Specially Modified Aesthetic Refreshing Travel) Coaches will be introduced to ensure higher carrying capacity and provision of new amenities including automatic doors, bar-code readers, bio-vacuum toilets, water-level indicators, accessible dustbins, ergonomic seating, improved aesthetics, vending machines, entertainment screens, LED lit boards for advertising, PA system. It is also proposed to integrate all facilities into two mobile apps dealing with ticketing issues and for receipt and redressal of complaints and suggestions. With a view to improve customer interface information boards in trains enumerating the on-board services and GPS based digital displays will be installed inside coaches to provide real time information regarding upcoming halts. Work is underway for the installation of a high-tech centralized network of 20,000 screens across 2000 stations for enabling real time flow of information to passengers and also to unlock huge advertising potential. All A1 class stations will be manned with duly empowered Station Directors supported by cross functional teams, to make one person accountable for all facilities on trains.
Shri Suresh Prabhu said it is proposed to take up on priority the provision of passenger amenities and beautification on stations at pilgrimage centres including Ajmer, Amritsar, Bihar Sharif, Chengannur, Dwarka, Gaya, Haridwar, Mathura, Nagapattinam, Nanded, Nasik, Pali, Parasnath, Puri, Tirupati, Vailankanni, Varanasi and Vasco. Aastha circuit trains will be introduced to connect important pilgrim centres.

He said optional travel insurance for rail journeys at the time of booking and clean my coach through sms will also be introduced in due course. High speed passenger corridor from Ahmedabad to Mumbai will be developed with the financial assistance from Government of Japan. FM Radio Stations will be invited to provide train borne entertainment, Rail Bandhu Mazagine will be provided in all reserved coaches in all regional languages.

Referring to the financial performance of 2015-16 the Railway Minister said Stringent economy and austerity measures adopted to contain the Ordinary Working Expenses (O.W.E.) due to which budgeted OWE of Rs 1,19,410 crore decreased in the Revised Estimates 2015-16 to Rs. 1,10,690 crore i.e. by Rs 8,720 crore. BE provided for an appropriation of Rs. 34,900 crore to the Pension Fund. However, based on trend, the pension outgo moderately decreased to Rs. 34,500 crore in RE. Internal resource generation diminished and appropriation to DRF moderated to Rs. 5,500 crore in RE from the BE 2015-16 provisioning of Rs. 7,900 crore. Excess of receipts over expenditure in RE 2015-16 stands at Rs. 11,402.40 crore. Plan size for 2015-16 is currently estimated at 1,00,000 crore i.e. the BE level.

Regarding Budget Estimates 2016-17 the Minister informed that the Gross Traffic Receipts are kept at Rs 1,84,820 crore . Passenger earnings growth has been pegged at 12.4 % and earnings target budgeted at Rs. 51,012 crore. The freight traffic is pegged at incremental traffic of 50 million tonnes, anticipating a healthier growth in the core sector of economy. Goods earnings is accordingly proposed at Rs. 1, 17,933 crore.

Other coaching and sundries projected at Rs. 6,185 crore and Rs. 9,590.3 crore respectively. OWE provides for the implementation of the 7th CPC.Pension outgo budgeted at Rs 45,500 crore in 2016-17. Higher staff cost and pension liability impacts the internal resource position of the Railways. Accordingly, appropriation to DRF from revenue placed at Rs 3,200 crore and that from Production Units at Rs 200 crore. A withdrawal of Rs 3,160 crore from DRF on net basis proposed though the gross expenditure to be met from DRF in the Annual Plan estimated at Rs 7,160 crore. Rs 5,750 crore proposed to be appropriated to the Capital fund. With a draw-down of Rs 1,250 crore from previous balances in the fund, plan requirement of Rs 7,000 crore for repayment of principal component of lease charges to IRFC have been met. Railways are preparing a Plan size of Rs. 1,21,000 crore in 2016-17, the Minister added.

PIB

Government servant getting retirement benefit from deputation office

Government servant getting retirement benefit from deputation office

Appointment to a post on deputation basis is made for a period normally specified in the Recruitment Rules of the deputation post, unless the period of deputation is extended by the Government in terms of prevailing instructions. After expiry of such deputation period, the Government servant is required to revert back to the parent organization/ office. The Guidelines regulating premature repatriation from Central Deputation also provide for repatriation to parent cadre in certain cases such as to avail benefit of promotion. However, there are no specific instructions which require a Government servant on deputation to be reverted back to the parent organization/ office before retirement only to facilitate fixation of pensionary benefits.

Rule 33 of Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules prescribes the emoluments to be taken into account for calculating pension.

This was stated by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri Motilal Vora in the Rajya Sabha today.

Highlights of the Railway Budget 2016-17 – An Official Report

Highlights of the Railway Budget 2016-17 – An Official Report

Highlights of the Railway Budget 2016-17

Theme of the Budget : Overcoming challenges – Reorganize, Restructure Rejuvenate Indian Railways: ‘Chalo, Milkar Kuch Naya Karen’

Three pillars of the strategy i.e. Nav Arjan – New revenues, Nav Manak – New norms, Nav Sanrachna – New Structures.

Financial Performance : 2015-16- Savings of Rs. 8,720 crore neutralizing most of the revenue shortfall, expected OR 90%;

2016-17- Targeted Operating Ratio (OR) – 92%, restrict growth of Ordinary Working Expenses by 11.6% after building in immediate impact of 7th PC, reductions planned in diesel and electricity consumption, Revenue generation targeted at Rs. 1,84,820crore.

Investments and Resources : Process bottlenecks overhauled including delegation of powers to functional levels; average capital expenditure over 2009-14 is Rs. 48,100 crore, average growth of 8% per annum.

2015-16 investment would be close to double of the average of previous 5 years.

2016-17 CAPEX pegged at Rs. 1.21 lakh crore; implementation through joint ventures with states, developing new frameworks for PPP, etc.

Vision : By 2020, long-felt desires of the common man to be fulfilled i.e, reserved accommodation on trains available on demand, time tabled freight trains, high end technology to improve safety record, elimination of all unmanned level crossings, improved punctuality, higher average speed of freight trains, semi high speed trains running along the golden quadrilateral, zero direct discharge of human waste. 

2015-16-Achievements : Action initiated on 139 budget announcements of 2015-16. 

Project execution : 2015-16 – assured funding through LIC; commissioning of 2,500 kms Broad Gauge lines; commissioning of 1,600 kms of electrification, highest ever. In 2016-17 – targeted commissioning 2,800 kms of track; commissioning Broad Gauge lines @ over 7 kms per day against an average of about 4.3 kms per day in the last 6 years. Would increase to about 13 kms per day in 2017-18 and 19 kms per day in 2018-19; will generate employment of about 9 crore man days in 2017-18 and 14 crore man days in 2018-19. Outlay for railway electrification increased in 2016-17 by almost 50%; target to electrify 2,000 kms.

Dedicated Freight Corridor : Almost all contracts for civil engineering works to be awarded by March 31st 2016; Rs. 24,000 crore contracts awarded since November 2014 as against Rs. 13,000 crore contracts awarded in last 6 years; propose to take up North-South, East-West & East Coast freight corridors through innovative financing including PPP.

Port connectivity : Tuna Port commissioned and rail connectivity projects to ports of Jaigarh, Dighi, Rewas and Paradip under implementation; implementation of rail connectivity for the ports of Nargol and Hazira under PPP in 2016-17.

North East : BG Lumding-Silchar section in Assam opened thus connecting Barak Valley with rest of the country; Agartala brought on to the BG network. States of Mizoram and Manipur shortly to come on BG map of the country with commissioning of the Kathakal-Bhairabi and Arunachal-Jiribam Gauge Conversion projects.

Jammu and Kashmir : Work on Katra-Banihal section of Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link Project progressing satisfactorily- 35 kms of tunnelling out of total of 95 kms completed; Decongestion work on Jalandhar – Jammu line in full swing and doubling of two bridges to be commissioned by March 2016, while the other two bridges will be completed by 2016-17.

Make in India: Finalised bids for two loco factories; proposed to increase the current procurement of train sets by 30%.

Capacity Building for the future through: Transparency – initiated recruitments online in 2015-16, process now being replicated for all positions, social media being used as a tool to bring in transparency, all procurement including procurement of works moved to the e-platform, completed trial of process leading to award of tender electronically and to be rolled out on a PanIndia basis in 2016-17.

Governance – delegation led to compression of project sanction time to 6-8 months from 2 years earlier, key result areas identified to judge performance of GMs and DRMs, performance related MOUs signed with few Zones, to be replicated for all zones.

Internal audit measures – specialised teams mandated to screen railway operations in specific areas to detect inefficiencies and prevent wastages, every zone preparing 2 reports by March 31, 2016.
Partnerships – Cabinet approval for JVs with State Governments, 17 consented and 6 MOUs signed with State Governments. 44 new partnership works covering about 5,300 kms and valuing about Rs. 92,714 crore have been indicated in the Budget documents.

Customer Interface : Interaction and feedback through social media & dedicated IVRS system.
Making travel comfortable by generating over 65,000 additional berths, installing 2,500 water vending machines; introducing ‘Mahamana Express’ with modern refurbished coaches; 17,000 bio-toilets in trains; world’s first Bio-Vacuum toilet developed.

Improving punctuality – operations audit for Ghaziabad to Mughalsarai section.

Ticketing: Introduced 1,780 Automatic Ticket Vending Machines, mobile apps & GoIndia smartcard for cashless purchase of UTS and PRS tickets, enhanced capacity of e-ticketing system from 2,000 tickets per minute to 7,200 tickets per minute and to support 1,20,000 concurrent users as against only 40,000 earlier.

Social initiatives: One-time registration for availing concessions while booking tickets online, online booking of wheelchairs & Braille enabled new coaches introduced for the Divyang, increased quota of lower berths for senior citizens and women, middle bays reserved in coaches for women.

Wi-Fi provided in 100 stations, to be provided in 400 more.

Stations being redeveloped – financial bid received for Habibganj, Bhopal; Cabinet approval for stations to be taken up under PPP.

Security through helplines & CCTVs.

Safety – 350 manned level crossings closed, eliminated 1,000 unmanned level crossings, 820 ROB/RUB completed in the current year and work going on in 1,350 of them.

Other major achievements : Energy: annualized savings of Rs. 3,000 crore to be achieved in the next financial year itself, a year earlier than announced; achieved by procuring power directly at competitive rates using IR’s status as Deemed Distribution Licensee.

Rail University – initially identified the National Academy of Indian Railways at Vadodara.
Digital India: application of Track Management System (TMS) launched, inventory management module of TMS has resulted in inventory reduction by 27,000 MT resulting in saving of Rs.64 crore and scrap identification of 22,000 MT equivalent to Rs.53 crore.

The Way Ahead Improving quality of travel For the unreserved passenger –Antyodaya Express unreserved, superfast service.

Deen Dayalu coaches – unreserved coaches with potable water and higher number of
mobile charging points.

For the reserved passenger – Humsafar – fully air-conditioned third AC service with an optional service for meals 

Tejas – will showcase the future of train travel in India. Will operate at speeds of 130 kmph and above.Will offer onboard services such as entertainment, local cuisine, WiFi, etc. through one service provider for ensuring accountability and improved customer satisfaction Humsafar and Tejas to ensure cost recovery through tariff and non-tariff measures UDAY – overnight double-decker, Utkrisht Double-Decker Air-conditioned Yatri Express on the busiest routes, has the potential to increase carrying capacity by almost 40%.

Ticketing: Sale of tickets through hand held terminals; e- ticketing facility to foreign debit/credit cards; bar coded tickets, scanners and access control on a pilot basis. Expansion of Vikalp – train on demand to provide choice of accommodation in specific trains to wait-listed passengers. 

E-booking of tickets facility on the concessional passes available to journalists; facility of cancellation through the 139 helpline post verification using ‘One Time Password’ sent on registered phone number, to improve tatkaal services CCTV cameras on windows and periodic audit of PRS website.

Cleanliness -‘Clean my Coach’ service through SMS, ranking of A1 and A stations based on periodic third party audit and passenger feedback; waste segregation and recycling centres; ‘Awareness campaigns’; additional 30,000 bio-toilets; providing portable structures with biotoilets at all platforms of select stations for senior citizens, Divyang and women travellers, plan to explore innovative means of providing and maintaining toilets such as advertisement rights, CSR, voluntary support from social organizations.

Catering and stalls at stations -IRCTC to manage catering services in a phased manner; explore possibility of making catering services optional, adding 10 more IRCTC operated base kitchens; to build local ownership and empowerment, weightage will be given to district domicile holders for commercial licenses at stations. Stoppages: convert all operational halts into commercial halts for the benefit of the common man. Rail Mitra Sewa: expanding Sarathi Seva in Konkan Railway to help the old and disabled passengers, strengthening the existing services for enabling passengers to book battery operated cars, porter services, etc. on a paid basis in addition to the existing pick up and drop, and wheel chair services.
 
Measures for Divyang: all stations under redevelopment accessible by Divyang; to provide at least one Divyang friendly toilet at each platform in A1 class stations during the next financial year and also ensure availability of wheelchairs in sufficient numbers at these stations.

Travel Insurance to passengers – to offer optional travel insurance for rail journeys at the time of booking.

Hourly booking of retiring rooms – will be handed over to IRCTC.

Expanding the freight basket of IR – to start time-tabled freight container, parcel and special commodity trains on a pilot basis, container sector would be opened to all traffic barring coal, specified mineral ores and part-loads during the non-peak season. All existing terminals/sheds would be granted access to container traffic, where considered feasible. Rationalising the tariff structure – undertake review of tariff policy to evolve a competitive rate structure vis a vis other modes, permit multi-point loading/unloading and apply differentiated tariffs to increase utilization of alternate routes, explore possibility of signing long term tariff contracts with our key freight customers using pre-determined price escalation principles.

Building terminal capacity – proposed to develop Rail side logistics parks and warehousing in PPP mode, 10 goods sheds will be developed by TRANSLOC, the Transport Logistics Company of India, in 2016-17. To soon inaugurate India’s first rail auto hub in Chennai. Encourage development of cold storage facilities on vacant land near freight terminals. Local farmers and fisherman would be given preferential usage of the facility. A policy in this regard would be issued in the next 3 months.

Nurturing customers – will appoint Key Customer Managers to liaison with our major freight stakeholders; each Zonal Railway will develop customer commitment charter indicating service level commitments of IR, will explore the feasibility of opening up leasing of general purpose wagons.

Annex-2 of the speech details the Implementation of Budget announcements 2015-16

Source: Indian Railway

Central Government Employees Demand Minimum Salary of Rs 26,000

Central Government Employees Demand Minimum Salary of Rs 26,000

Government employees have demanded a minimum salary of Rs 26,000 as against Rs 18,000 recommended by the 7th Central Pay Commission while threatening to go on strike if demands not met.

“Minimum Pay needs to be revised to Rs 26,000 per month and the minimum pay of Rs 18,000 as recommended by 7th CPC is not acceptable,” said Minutes of the meeting of Joint Secretary (IC) with the members of the Staff-side of the Standing Committee (National Council-JCM).

Secretary, Staff-side, Standing Committee (National Council-Joint Consultative Machinery) said Staff-side is “not at all happy” with the recommendations of the CPC and, in fact, “no section of the employees is satisfied”, as the Commission has recommended a minimal pay increase as compared to the previous Pay Commissions.

The Secretary further stated that an amicable and mutually negotiated settlement of these demands is necessary as “non-acceptance would further cause resentment in the employees”.

The Secretary “informed that Staff-Side has already made their stand clear to go on strike from April 11, 2016 if their demands are not considered and no amicable settlement happens”, the Minutes said.

The meeting was held to discuss the issues raised by the National Joint Council of Action (NJCA) in their letter addressed to the Cabinet Secretary, regarding their Charter of Demands on the recommendations of the Pay Commission.

The Staff-side also said the central government employees need to be excluded from the National Pension Scheme (NPS), a long pending demand

The fixed monthly medical allowance for pensioners who are not covered by CGHS and REHS needs to be increased from Rs 500 to Rs 2,000 is another major demand.

The Joint Secretary (Implementation Cell) assured the Staff-Side that the concerns and demands made by them would be placed before the Empowered Committee of Secretaries for consideration after examining the same in the light of the recommendations of the Commission.

The scheme of Joint Consultative Machinery (JCM) is a platform for constructive dialogue between the representatives of the staff side and the official side for peaceful resolution of all disputes between the Government as employer and the employees.

Demands are submitted to the Implementation Cell, created in the Finance Ministry, to work as Secretariat for the Empowered Committee of Secretaries headed by Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha.

The Pay Commission recommendations when implemented would have bearing on remuneration of 47 lakh central government employees and 52 lakh pensioners. Subject to acceptance by the government, the recommendations will take effect from January 1, 2016.

Source: The Economic Times

Minutes of JCM Staff Side Meeting with 7th CPC Implementation Cell held on 19.2.2016

Minutes of JCM Staff Side Meeting with 7th CPC Implementation Cell held on 19.2.2016

Minutes of the Meeting of Joint Secretary (IC) with the Members of the Staff-Side of the Standing Committee (National Council-JCM) held on 19.02.2016

A Meeting was held under the chairmanship of Joint Secretary (Implementation Cell), Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, with the Members of the StaffSide of the Standing Committee (National Council-JCM) on 19.2.2016 to discuss the issues raised by the National Joint Council of Action (NJCA) {Joint Consultative Machinery (JCM)} in their letter No. NJC/2015/7th CPC dt. 10.12.2015, addressed to the Cabinet Secretary, regarding their Charter of Demands on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission. The Secretary, Staff-Side of the Standing Committee (National Council- JCM), who is the convener of the NJCA, along with other office bearers attended the meeting. The list of the participants from the Staff-Side is attached at Annexure.

1. Welcoming the members of the Staff-Side, JS(IC) mentioned that the meeting has been convened to enable the Staff-Side to bring out their concerns on the recommendations of the 7th CPC in the light of the Charter of Demands made by them in the aforesaid letter of NJCA so that same could be examined in the Implementation Cell and submitted for consideration of the Empowered Committee of Secretaries. He informed the office bearers that before arriving at a decision, the ECoS would also hold separate discussions with the Staff Side.

2. Commencing the discussions from the Side of the Members of the Staff-Side, Secretary, Staff-Side, Standing Committee (National Council-JCM), explained that they have already placed their Charter of Demands as per the letter of NJCA dated 10.12.2015. He mentioned that the reasons based on which these demands have been made have also been explained therein. He, however, highlighted that the Staff-Side is not at all happy with the recommendations of the 7th CPC and, in fact, no section of the employees is satisfied, as the Commission has recommended a minimal pay increase as compared to the previous Pay Commissions. He mentioned that the Staff-Side does not agree with the minimum pay of Rs. 18000 and the reason as to why the methodology adopted by the 7th CPC to arrive at this figure is not correct has been explained in their letter dated 10.12.2015. He stated that Staff-Side demands enhancement of the minimum pay to Rs. 26000 and the reasons in support of this have been given in their aforesaid letter. He further stated that an amicable and mutually negotiated settlement of these demands is necessary as non-acceptance would further cause resentment in the employees. He informed that Staff-Side has already made their stand clear to go on strike from 11th April, 2016 if their demands are not considered and no amicable settlement happens.

3. Thereafter, the other members of the Staff-Side also expressed their arguments for acceptance of these demands and all of them emphasised that the minimum pay needs to be revised. Consequently, the fitment multiple of 2.57 would also need commensurate change. The leader of the Staff-Side explained that the office bearers who were present in the meeting represent various sections of Central Government employees including railways, defence civilians, postal employees etc., the number of which is around Rs. 32 lakhs.

4. The Staff-Side brought out their concerns on all the 26 demands included in the Charter of Demands and all the points brought out by them in the letter of the NJCA dt. 10.12.2015 were reiterated. However, following issues in support of their demands were highlighted :-

(i) Minimum Pay needs to be revised to Rs. 26000 p.m. and the minimum pay of Rs. 18000 p.m. as recommended by 7th CPC is not acceptable. This would require upward revision in the fitment multiple of 2.57 and change in the Pay Matrix. It was argued that if the 10% of the pay for NPS contribution and the recommended increase in the CGEIS contribution are taken into account, there would be a drop in the take-home salary of the employees at the
minimum pay of Rs.18000.

(ii) Central Government employees need to be excluded from the National Pension Scheme (NPS), which has been a long pending demand of the StaffSide. The Staff-Side stated that the Pension Fund which has been created under NPS to generate annuity for employees, would not ensure reasonable pension. Rather it is quite likely that it may generate negative returns because of the dismal performance of the financial market to which the fund is invested, leaving the employees without any reasonable social security benefit.

(iii) The 7th CPC has recommended abolition of 52 allowances without properly appreciating the justification of these allowances. The example of break-down allowance in case of Railway employees was given, stating that this allowances is given so that the concerned employees take up the necessary follow up action in the case of breakdown on an urgent basis and therefore its withdrawal is not justified in operational interests of Railways.

(iv) The withdrawal of advances, especially LTC, TA, Medical, National Calamity Advance, was not justified. It was argued that these advances are recovered from the employees and, therefore, the same should be retained. (v) In regard to enhancement of contribution under Group Insurance Scheme, it was argued that increase in the contribution from the employees was not justified and if the same is to be raised, the Government should bear the
insurance premium.

(vi) The post of LDC should be upgraded to UDC and as part of delayering, Grade Pays of Rs. 1900, Rs. 2400 and Rs. 4600 should be abolished and merged with the next higher Grades.

(vii) The rate of increment needs to be raised from 3% to 5% because pay is revised in the Central Government after 10 years. It was mentioned that in the PSUs the pay is revised after 5 years and the rate of increment is also higher.

(viii) Two increments in the feeder post may be granted as promotion benefit.

(ix) Fixed medical allowance for pensioners who are not covered by CGHS and REHS needs to be increased from Rs. 500 p.m. to Rs. 2000 p.m.

(x) The recommendation regarding grant of only 80% of salary for the second year of Child Care Leave need not be accepted and the existing provisions may be retained

(xi) It was also demanded that though the D/o Expenditure has sought the comments of the Ministries/Department on the issues pertaining to them after consulting the Staff Associations, administrative Departments are not inviting the Staff associations for discussions.

5. After detailed explanation by the Staff-Side on all the demands included in the Charter of Demands, JS(IC), while concluding the discussions, assured the Staff-Side that the concerns and demands made by them would be placed before the Empowered Committee of Secretaries for consideration after examining the same in the light of the recommendations of the Commission. He also mentioned that in cases where the comments of the administrative Ministries/ Departments would be necessary, e.g., the case of break-down allowance pertaining to Ministry of Railways, the same would be considered before the issues are placed before the E-CoS. As regards the issue raised that the administrative Departments are not inviting staff associations for discussions, JS(IC) mentioned that the Departments have to formulate the views keeping in view the representations made by the Staff Associations.

6. Thereafter, the meeting ended with thanks to the chair.

Members of the Staff side of the National Joint Council (JCM), who attended the meeting with JS (IC) held on 19.02.2016 -7th Central Pay Commission

S.No. Name (S/Shri)
1. Shiva Gopal Mishra
2. M.Raghavaiah
3. N.Kanniah
4. Guman Singh
5. K.K.N.Kutty
6. C.Srikumar
7. S.N.Pathak
8. Ashok Singh
9. R.N.Prashar
10. M.S. Raja
11. Giri Raj singh
12. Satish Chander
13. R.Srinivasan

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