Railway drivers and running staff, who have been protesting for mileage allowance, have announced that they will not run trains for more than eight hours a day from Tuesday. The Railway Running Staff and Employees Workers Association announced the program on Monday. If the drivers do not work more than 8 hours a day, the train schedule will be disrupted.
Mojibur Rahman, general secretary of the association, said that due to lack of manpower, the running staff including the train driver have to work 12-14 hours daily. Do not work more than the prescribed 8 hours from Tuesday.
The association has written a letter to the Director General of Railways Dhirendra Nath Majumder on Thursday announcing to stop running trains from January 31 if the demand for mileage allowance is not met as per the previous rules. However, he did not know about the announcement of not working more working hours from Tuesday, said the director general of railways.
He said Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan had spoken to the Finance Ministry to resolve the issue of drivers. Hopefully the issue will be resolved before January 31.
Train drivers (locomasters), guards and ticket inspectors (TT) who work more than 8 hours a day or run trains for more than 100 miles will receive the same amount of money as mileage or running allowance. 75 percent of the allowance was added to the pension as part of pay. On November 3, the finance ministry said in a notification that the mileage allowance would not be added to the pension. The amount of allowance cannot be more than the basic salary.
Leaders of the agitating Running Staff Association have said that the drivers will not work for more than eight hours from Tuesday to explain to the railway authorities what will happen if the train does not run from January 31.
Association said the driver owes 12 hours rest after reaching the destination. But don’t get more than 3-4 hours of rest due to driver crisis. After completing the journey from Tuesday, complete 12 hours rest and then run the train.