ProUI

New Delhi:  Ahead of elections, the government on Wednesday announced constitution of the Seventh Pay Commission, which will go into the salaries, allowances and pensions of about 80 lakh (8 million) of its employees and pensioners.

“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the constitution of the 7th Pay Commission. Its recommendations are likely to be implemented with effect from January 1, 2016″, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said in a statement.

The setting up of the Commission, whose recommendations will benefit about 50 lakh (5 million) central government employees, including those in Railways and Defence, and about 30 lakh (3 million) pensioners, comes ahead of the Assembly elections in 5 states in November and the general elections next year.

The government constitutes Pay Commission almost every ten years to revise the pay scales of its employees and often these are adopted by states after some modification.

As the Commission takes about two years to prepare its recommendations, the award of the seventh pay panel is likely to be implemented from January 1, 2016, Chidambaram said.

The sixth Pay Commission was implemented from January 1, 2006, fifth from January 1, 1996 and fourth from January 1, 1986.

The names of the chairperson and members of the 7th Pay Commission and its terms of reference will be finalised shortly after consultation with major stakeholders, Chidambaram said.

Additional Burden on Next Government to be to a tune of Rs.1 Lakh Crore!

The lure of 8 million votes has rendered the allegedly reformist duo of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram weak in the knees. There is no good reason at all for the UPA to announce the formation of the 7th Pay Commission — which will recommend substantial pay hikes for Central Government employees — now. It hasn’t been the customary ten years since the last one was constituted in 2006, also by Singh and Chidambaram. Central Government employees and pensioners (8 million of them) are among the privileged minority of Indians whose wages are in any case index-linked to inflation and rise by a quantum of the Government’s mismanagement of inflation. Also, the Government’s fiscal health is the worst it has been in twenty years. The private sector gives no hikes when it makes no profits. There could not be a more inappropriate time to signal a serious increase in the Government’s wasteful consumption expenditure, even as productive investment expenditure is cut to meet fiscal deficit targets.

The UPA will argue, in its defence that the hikes recommended by the Commission will only become effective on January 1, 2016, which is over two years away. The health of the Government’s fiscal in 2016 then will now be determined by the next Government which takes office after 2014 – the UPA can only do a limited amount in its populist mode. In national interest, the UPA should have left the announcement of the 7th Pay Commission to the next Government. By forcing a Pay Commission, which will lead to a rise in Government expenditure by at least 1.5 percent of GDP (assuming Centre and states implement it), the UPA is limiting the next Government’s expenditure management options. Inevitably, the axe will have to fall on public investment expenditure (on infrastructure for example), which will cost the country in terms of economic growth. It also makes little sense to institute another Pay Commission before undertaking a thorough exercise in administrative reform which will rationalize the bureaucracy. India’s bureaucracy is bottom heavy with far too many people engaged in low productivity roles in what are called class III and class IV jobs (peons, clerks, secretaries etc). The flab at the bottom of the pyramid needs to be cut. The Government also needs to take a call on a number of wasteful ministries in the Central Government and the staff that is deployed in them. Does India really need separate ministries for Commerce and Industry, Heavy Industries and Micro, Small and Medium Industries? Does it need a vast ministry of steel when the production and pricing of steel has long been decontrolled? Why can’t there be a unified ministry of transport rather than separate ones for civil aviation, roads and shipping? It is certainly possible to make a case for better-paid bureaucrats. That’s one way to try and ensure that there is less corruption. In some areas, like diplomacy, India needs more top officers. At the moment, the country’s diplomatic corps is about the size of tiny Singapore’s rather than competitor China. But for that, the system needs to ensure that it is maximizing efficiency, focusing on high productivity roles and minimizing waste. Unsurprisingly, the recommendations of every Administrative Reforms Commissions have been duly ignored even as recommendations of every pay commission have been eagerly embraced. On this issue, politicians and bureaucrats have forged a strong partnership. It signals another disaster-in-the-making for India’s moribund economy.

NEW DELHI: Railways is mulling installing automatic doors in AC coaches of some premier trains, on the lines of those in Metro, to enhance passengers' safety and check criminal activities on board running trains.The new system will be controlled by the driver or guard from his cabin and with his command, all the doors will automatically open when train arrives at station, and close when it departs. Currently, train doors are opened and closed manually."Train will not move unless all the doors are closed in the automatic door system. The driver and the guard will have command control of the system at their cabins," a senior Railway Ministry official said.A meeting of the Railway Board was held last week to finalise the proposal for introducing automatic doors system in trains."RDSO (Research Design and Standards Organisation) is finalising the specifications for the system to be fitted in a rake of 20 AC coaches in the Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala as a pilot project," the official said.

However, the official said, "Before equipping the first rake with the system, a non-AC coach in Delhi Division will be made operational with the automatic closing door system for trial purpose."

Several lives have been lost with passengers falling off running trains while standing on foot-board.

According to the official, Allahabad High Court had directed Railways to instal automatic doors in passenger coaches to prevent passengers from falling off running trains.

Railways had appealed to the Supreme Court against the order, but the apex court had upheld the High Court decision.

Railways is planning to instal the automatic door system in all mail and express trains.

"The system is being considered as more safe in long- distance super fast trains to ensure foolproof safety to passengers. Besides, the new system will also help in curbing criminal activities on running trains," the official said.

Besides Metro trains, high speed trains in foreign countries have automatic doors in each coach.

"It has been noticed that passengers travel on foot-board or standing at door while undertaking journey by trains though it is not permitted. So, the proposed system will be effective in checking mishaps and criminal activities on running trains," he said.

As Railways is actively considering to increase speed of passengers trains, the new technology of automatic doors is expected to be installed in all such trains.

New Delhi:  Ahead of elections, the government on Wednesday announced constitution of the Seventh Pay Commission, which will go into the salaries, allowances and pensions of about 80 lakh (8 million) of its employees and pensioners.

“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the constitution of the 7th Pay Commission. Its recommendations are likely to be implemented with effect from January 1, 2016″, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said in a statement.

The setting up of the Commission, whose recommendations will benefit about 50 lakh (5 million) central government employees, including those in Railways and Defence, and about 30 lakh (3 million) pensioners, comes ahead of the Assembly elections in 5 states in November and the general elections next year.

The government constitutes Pay Commission almost every ten years to revise the pay scales of its employees and often these are adopted by states after some modification.

As the Commission takes about two years to prepare its recommendations, the award of the seventh pay panel is likely to be implemented from January 1, 2016, Chidambaram said.

The sixth Pay Commission was implemented from January 1, 2006, fifth from January 1, 1996 and fourth from January 1, 1986.

The names of the chairperson and members of the 7th Pay Commission and its terms of reference will be finalised shortly after consultation with major stakeholders, Chidambaram said.

Additional Burden on Next Government to be to a tune of Rs.1 Lakh Crore!

The lure of 8 million votes has rendered the allegedly reformist duo of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram weak in the knees. There is no good reason at all for the UPA to announce the formation of the 7th Pay Commission — which will recommend substantial pay hikes for Central Government employees — now. It hasn’t been the customary ten years since the last one was constituted in 2006, also by Singh and Chidambaram. Central Government employees and pensioners (8 million of them) are among the privileged minority of Indians whose wages are in any case index-linked to inflation and rise by a quantum of the Government’s mismanagement of inflation. Also, the Government’s fiscal health is the worst it has been in twenty years. The private sector gives no hikes when it makes no profits. There could not be a more inappropriate time to signal a serious increase in the Government’s wasteful consumption expenditure, even as productive investment expenditure is cut to meet fiscal deficit targets.

The UPA will argue, in its defence that the hikes recommended by the Commission will only become effective on January 1, 2016, which is over two years away. The health of the Government’s fiscal in 2016 then will now be determined by the next Government which takes office after 2014 – the UPA can only do a limited amount in its populist mode. In national interest, the UPA should have left the announcement of the 7th Pay Commission to the next Government. By forcing a Pay Commission, which will lead to a rise in Government expenditure by at least 1.5 percent of GDP (assuming Centre and states implement it), the UPA is limiting the next Government’s expenditure management options. Inevitably, the axe will have to fall on public investment expenditure (on infrastructure for example), which will cost the country in terms of economic growth. It also makes little sense to institute another Pay Commission before undertaking a thorough exercise in administrative reform which will rationalize the bureaucracy. India’s bureaucracy is bottom heavy with far too many people engaged in low productivity roles in what are called class III and class IV jobs (peons, clerks, secretaries etc). The flab at the bottom of the pyramid needs to be cut. The Government also needs to take a call on a number of wasteful ministries in the Central Government and the staff that is deployed in them. Does India really need separate ministries for Commerce and Industry, Heavy Industries and Micro, Small and Medium Industries? Does it need a vast ministry of steel when the production and pricing of steel has long been decontrolled? Why can’t there be a unified ministry of transport rather than separate ones for civil aviation, roads and shipping? It is certainly possible to make a case for better-paid bureaucrats. That’s one way to try and ensure that there is less corruption. In some areas, like diplomacy, India needs more top officers. At the moment, the country’s diplomatic corps is about the size of tiny Singapore’s rather than competitor China. But for that, the system needs to ensure that it is maximizing efficiency, focusing on high productivity roles and minimizing waste. Unsurprisingly, the recommendations of every Administrative Reforms Commissions have been duly ignored even as recommendations of every pay commission have been eagerly embraced. On this issue, politicians and bureaucrats have forged a strong partnership. It signals another disaster-in-the-making for India’s moribund economy.

NEW DELHI: Railways is mulling installing automatic doors in AC coaches of some premier trains, on the lines of those in Metro, to enhance passengers' safety and check criminal activities on board running trains.The new system will be controlled by the driver or guard from his cabin and with his command, all the doors will automatically open when train arrives at station, and close when it departs. Currently, train doors are opened and closed manually."Train will not move unless all the doors are closed in the automatic door system. The driver and the guard will have command control of the system at their cabins," a senior Railway Ministry official said.A meeting of the Railway Board was held last week to finalise the proposal for introducing automatic doors system in trains."RDSO (Research Design and Standards Organisation) is finalising the specifications for the system to be fitted in a rake of 20 AC coaches in the Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala as a pilot project," the official said.

However, the official said, "Before equipping the first rake with the system, a non-AC coach in Delhi Division will be made operational with the automatic closing door system for trial purpose."

Several lives have been lost with passengers falling off running trains while standing on foot-board.

According to the official, Allahabad High Court had directed Railways to instal automatic doors in passenger coaches to prevent passengers from falling off running trains.

Railways had appealed to the Supreme Court against the order, but the apex court had upheld the High Court decision.

Railways is planning to instal the automatic door system in all mail and express trains.

"The system is being considered as more safe in long- distance super fast trains to ensure foolproof safety to passengers. Besides, the new system will also help in curbing criminal activities on running trains," the official said.

Besides Metro trains, high speed trains in foreign countries have automatic doors in each coach.

"It has been noticed that passengers travel on foot-board or standing at door while undertaking journey by trains though it is not permitted. So, the proposed system will be effective in checking mishaps and criminal activities on running trains," he said.

As Railways is actively considering to increase speed of passengers trains, the new technology of automatic doors is expected to be installed in all such trains.

South Eastern Railway has decided to run 7 pairs of weekly special trains between Santragachi and Rajkot (Gujarat) during the period from October 16 to November 30 during Durga Puja and Diwali Festivals.

          08049/08050 Santragachi-Rajkot Weekly Special (7 pairs), the Weekly Special train leaving Santragachi every Wednesday at 21.25 hrs will reach Rajkot at 16.15 hrs every Friday. In the return direction, the special train leaving Rajkot every Saturday at 09.00 hrs. will arrive Santragachi at 08.05 hrs every Monday.  This special train will run during the period from October 16 to November 30.

          The special train will have stoppages at Kharagpur, Midnapur, Bankura, Adra, Purulia, Chakradharpur, Rourkela, Jharsuguda, Raigarh, Bilaspur, Raipur, Durg, Rajnandgaon, Gondia, Nagpur, Wardha, Badnera, Akola, Malkapur, Bhusaval, Jalgaon, Nandurbar, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad, Viramgam, Surendranagar and Wankaner between Santragachi and Rajkot.

          With these 7 pairs, S E Railway will be running a total of 115 pairs of special trains during Durga Puja and Diwali festivals to clear the huge rush of passengers. The other special trains are Santragachi-Chennai Weekly AC Superfast special (9 pairs), Santragachi-Mumbai Weekly Superfast AC special (8 pairs), Santragachi-Puri (9 pairs), Shalimar-Yesvantpur (8 pairs), Santragachi-Anand Vihar (8 pairs), Santragachi-Kochuveli (9 pairs), Shalimar-Hyderabad (8 pairs) Sealdah-Puri (7 pairs), Tata-Bhagalpur (8 pairs) , Hatia-Yesavantpur (8 pairs), Ranchi-Katihar ( 16 pairs) and Tata-Visakhapatnam (10 pairs) which have  already been announced by South Eastern Railway.

                This apart, S E Railway has also decided to augment a number of important mail/express trains by attaching extra coaches, both AC and Non-AC during the period from 1st October to 10th November, 2013 to clear extra rush of passengers during the festive season. The important trains which will be augmented are Howrah-Digha Tamralipta Express, Howrah-Digha Kandari Express, Howrah-Yesvantpur Duronto Express, Howrah-Mumbai Duronto Express and Howrah-Pune Duronto Express. (EOIC)

BHUBANESWAR: The East Coast Railways (ECoR) has sought private participation in a big way to improve its infrastructure. So far, it has come up with five projects in participatory models and mobilized Rs 1,200 crore from different industry players.

"Odisha has witnessed rapid industrialization in the last few years and the prospect of private participation in railway infrastructure development is huge. We are getting very good response from industries," said G D Brahma, chief operations manager, ECoR.

Brahma said the National Minerals Development Corporation (NMDC) has invested Rs 800 crore for laying an additional line between Kirandul and Jagadalpur in Chhattisgarh. It will connect its mines with its proposed steel plant and will also help in evacuating iron ore. NMDC will recover the invested money through freight rebate, he added.

In Odisha, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) has invested Rs 200 crore for introducing auto-signaling at railway crossings between Paradip and Talcher. "It would facilitate transportation of more rakes by the MCL. As a result, the investor would be able to recover the money from increased freight and resultant profits," Brahma said. MCL has been transporting 23 to 24 rakes in a day, but after the introduction of auto-signaling system, the number will increase to 45 rakes a day. The MCL will recover its investment in six to seven months, he added.

Similarly, the Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation (APGEN) has evinced interest in investing Rs 80 crore for auto-signaling from Talcher to Gundapalli to Vijaywada. Besides, infrastructure companies GMR and Lanco have made investment of Rs 20 crore to lay an additional line between Talcher to Meramandali.

In addition to this, the ECoR has also envisaged expanding railway lines between Talcher and Raj Athagarh from two lines to four lines through participatory approach. "Industrial development in Jharsuguda area offers huge prospects of private players in railway infrastructure development," Brahma said.

More than 15,000 people were evacuated to safer places on Tuesday as heavy rain in south and central Gujarat caused water levels of rivers to rise, and disrupted rail and road traffic between Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

Two persons, including a 45-year-old man who drowned in a river in Segva village, have died so far.Around 13,000 people from 21 villages of Bharuch district and Bharuch city around the Narmada river, were shifted to safer places after heavy rains lashed the entire district, authorities said.Bharuch District Collector Avantika Singh said the Narmada water level on the Golden Bridge had touched 33 ft., exceeding the danger level of 24 ft. In Vadodara, around 2,400 people from 16 villages have been shifted to safer places.

NEW DELHI: Railways have decided to launch a new air-conditioned train between Amritsar and Lalkuan in Uttarakhand.The new weekly Amritsar-Lalkuan AC Express train will be operational every Wednesday from October 2 in both the directions, said a senior Northern Railway official adding "there was a demand by the local people for the train and it was included in the budget proposal."The AC Express train shall depart from Amritsar at 5.55 AM every Wednesday and reach Lalkuan at 8.50 PM the same day. In the return direction, the train will leave Lalkuan every Wednesday at 11.15 PM to reach Amritsar at 2.45 PM the next day.Consisting of 13 AC III tier coaches and three AC Chair Car coaches, the Amritsar-Lalkuan-Amritsar train will stop at Beas, Jalandhar, Phagwara, Ludhiana, New Morinda, Sahibzada Ajitsingh Nagar, Chandigarh, Ambala Cantonment, Jagadhari, Saharanpur, Roorkee, Laksar, Najibabad, Moradabad and Kashipur stations enroute in both the directions.

The Indian Railways will run air-conditioned Weekly Special Trains between Secunderabad and Visakhapatnam via Vijayawada from October 4. In a press release it said on Monday that to clear extra rush of passengers in the ensuing Durga Puja season it will run the train No. 02727 Visakhapatnam to Secunderabad A/C super-fast express leaving Visakhapatnam at 07.05 p.m. on every Saturday from October 5 to 26 (4 trips) and will arrive at/depart from Vijayawada at 1.00 a.m./1.20 a.m. reach Secunderabad at 07.50 a.m. on the next day. The train No. 02728 Secunderabad to Visakhapatnam A/C super-fast express train will leave Secunderabad at 10.10 p.m. on every Friday from October 4 to 25 (4 Trips) and will arrive at/depart from Vijayawada at 3.40 a.m./3.55 a.m. reach Visakhapatnam at 10.35 a.m. on the next day. This pair of trains will stop at Duvvada, Anakapalle, Tuni, Annavaram, Samalkot, Rajahmundry, Tadepalligudem, Eluru, Vijayawada, Warangal and Kazipet between Visakhapatnam and Secunderabad.This train consists of one first A.C. coach, Three Second A.C. coaches and 11 third A.C. coaches in its composition.

GORAKHPUR: Due to re-modelling of the station yard of Gorakhpur Junction, several trains have been either cancelled, short-terminated or diverted from today, General Manager of North Eastern Railway, AK Atal said here.After re-modelling of the station yard, Gorakhpur will have the world's longest platform, Atal claimed.Till now Kharagpur was the longest platform with its length of 1,074 metres. Gorakhpur will be of 1,300 metres, Atal said adding, the signalling system of the station is being modernised leading to rescheduling of several trains till October 6.15105 and 15106 Chhapra-Gorakhpur Intercity, 15019 Gorakhpur-Nautanwa Intercity and 15020 Nautanwa-Gorakhpur Intercity will remain cancelled, a NER press release said.Apart from these, 55071, 55069, 55070, 55029 and 55072 passenger trains have been short-terminated, it said.Several long distance trains have been rescheduled to terminate or start from Lucknow, the release added.Atal said, the doubling of railway lines between Lucknow and Chhapra will be completed by March next year while an alternate rail route between Gorakhpur and Gonda will be available by year end after completion of gauge conversion between Barhni-Gonda and Gonda-Behraich.