The Union Cabinet has approved Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) equivalent to 78 days wages for the financial year 2022-23 to all eligible non-gazetted railway employees such as track maintainer, loco pilots, train managers (guards), station masters, supervisors, technicians, technician helpers, pointsman, ministerial staff and other Group C staff (excluding RPF/RPSF personnel).
This was decided at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said a release by Chief Public Relations Officer, South Western Railway, Hubballi, Aneesh Hegde.
“The total payout to 11,07,346 railway employees is expected to be around ₹1,968.87 crore.
This is a measure of recognition of performance by railway officers and staff. The performance of the Railways in 2022-2023 has been good. The Railways loaded a record cargo of 1,509 million tonnes and carried nearly 6.5 billion pPassengers,” the release said.
“Many factors contributed to this record performance. These include improvement in infrastructure due to infusion of record Capex by the government in Railways, efficiency in operations and better technology and others. Payment of PLB will act as an incentive to motivate the Railway employees for working towards further improvement in performance,” the CPRO said.
South Western Railway entered into an agreement with JSW Minerals Rail Logistics Private Limited recently for the operation of 07 BOBSNS (hopper wagon) special type of wagon with side discharge arrangement for unloading/loading of iron ore from the mines at Mineral Enterprises Ltd. Siding at Sasalu and Swamihalli to the JSW steel plant at Toranagallu.
This is the first kind of such an agreement in the South Western Railway. The rake for the purpose is manufactured by Titagarh Rail System Limited, Kolkata, and the first set is expected to be operative from April 2024.
JSW Minerals Rail Logistics Private Limited is investing ₹29.57 crore per rake. A rebate of 10% is granted to the customer on base freight for every booking. Introduction of BOBSNS (hopper wagon) will ease out the unloading difficulty through wagon tippler or manually.
The agreement was signed by Chief Commercial Manager, Freight Marketing, South Western Railway, A. Sundar and Executive Vice-President (Planning and Logistics), JSW, Sushil Nowal in the presence of Principal Chief Commercial Manager, South Western Railway, Satya Prakash Shastri, Deputy Chief Commercial Manger, Freight Service, South Western Railway, Aravinda Herle G. and General Manager, Logistics, JSW, Manhohan Shetty.
General Manager of South Western Railway Sanjeev Kishore said that the South Western Railway is committed to extending full support to its customers and expressed the hope that this agreement will enable higher quantum of iron ore transportation with more efficiency, said a release.
