Title - Rail bonus

The government today announced bonus equivalent to 78-day wages for over 12.37 lakh railway employees for 2011-12. "The financial implication of the pay of 78 days' PLB (productivity-linked bonus) to railway employees has been estimated at Rs 1,021.56 crore. The wage calculation ceiling prescribed for the payment of PLB to eligible non-gazetted railway employees is Rs 3,500 per month," an official release after the cabinet meeting said. Productivity-linked bonus is paid to eligible railway employees every year before Dussehra. The railway unions had demanded an 80-day wage as bonus. Last year, too, they were given 78-day wage as bonus. "We have written to railway minister C. P. Joshi seeking 80-day bonus this year against that of last year," said an office-bearer of the All-India Railwaymens' Federation.