Title - Orders on ‘trackmen’ draw flak from railway unions

The recent orders of the Railway Board on the restructuring/re-organisation of the ‘trackmen’, diluting their promotional structure, have drawn flak from the recognised trade unions. The National Federation of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR) has described the staffing pattern of ‘trackman’ as a ‘blatant violation’ of the joint committee report. NFIR general secretary M. Raghavaiah has noted that the then Railway Minister Mamata Bannerjee had constituted the joint committee during 2010 to consider the career growth and special package to the ‘trackmen’ category of workers.The committee met 14 times and submitted its final report on June 28, 2011, but the Railway Board violated the recommendations except the change of designation of ‘trackman’ as ‘track maintainer’.The joint committee recommended the constitution of ‘trackmen’ into four groups in the ratio of 10:20:20:50 but the Railway Board provides only 3:6:20:71 in the grade pay of 2800:2400:1900:1800 respectively, according to the Divisional Coordinator of East Coast Railway Shramik Congress V.J. Ajay Kumar.The Railway Board has also failed to grant Rs.900 towards reimbursement of cost of shoes and special allowances of Rs.300 + Rs.75 to all the trackmen on Indian Railways.He has said that NFIR affiliates will observe a protest week from Tuesday.