NEW DELHI: After the Cabinet approved the constitution of 8th Pay Commission on Thursday, a section of railway unions has pleaded with the government to reconsider its decision on Night Duty Allowance, which has a ceiling of pay level as well as a basic salary. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) had on July 13, 2020 issued an office memorandum according to which “the ceiling of basic pay for entitlement of Night Duty Allowance shall be Rs 43,600 per month”, among other conditions.

“According to the DoPT OM (office memorandum), even if an employee’s basic pay is above Rs 43,600, his Night Duty Allowance (NDA) will be calculated presuming his basic pay as Rs 43,600 which is unfair and without any rationale,” said North Eastern Railway Men’s Congress assistant general secretary Vivek Mishra.

The Railway Board, however, issued an instruction on September 29, 2020 and said that NDA would be granted to those employees, who are up to pay level 7 only. This eliminated the upper pay level employees of 8 and 9 to get any benefit of NDA. “The Railway Ministry too didn’t offer any rationale for imposing such a restriction. This is demotivating and discouraging. As the government has announced the constitution of 8th Pay Commission, I humbly plead to the DoPT as well as the Ministry of Railway to look into this aspect separately as the working of Railways is not like other government departments,” Mishra said.

According to the unions, “Before 2020, all government employees used to get the said allowance for working between 10 pm to 6 am irrespective of their grade pay or any ceiling. But after the 7th Pay Commission report and when the DoPT issued an office memorandum fixing a ceiling, many safety department employees are deprived of NDA now.” They say that several safety category staff such as station masters, train controllers and other senior supervisors work equally hard, however, this ceiling and pay level restriction have divided them into two categories – NDA and non-NDA.

“So a station master works for 8 hours from 10 pm to 6 am and gets the benefits of NDA because he falls in pay level 7. On the other hand, another station master who is promoted to level 8 or level 9 doesn’t get the benefit despite doing the same duty hour even if he is more experienced than the one of level 7. Isn’t it unjust and discriminatory?” asked Northern Railway All India Station Masters’ Association general secretary Sumeer Aima.

Sushil Shally, Ex Chief Controller, Delhi Rail Division, too raised the similar issue in respect of controllers.

“The 13th July, 2020 OM doesn’t have any rationale through which it can justify the ceiling. Neither the Railway Ministry’s instruction which puts another restriction of pay level 7. Train controllers are also facing similar issues like station masters’ and I believe it impacts the functioning, motivation level etc. Working against the natural hours must be rewarded irrespective of levels or grade pay,” he said.

“When senior officers sleep at home, these safety cadre employees work relentlessly to help people reach their respective destinations safely. The government must consider the functioning of railways different from its other departments and treat them accordingly,” said All India Train Controllers’ Association (AITCA) ex-assistant general secretary Manoj Sinha.