7th Pay Commission: Though Indian Railways have been generating `Excess` after meeting working expenses from own revenues, the amount of `Excess` has varied over the years depending on the pace of growth of working expenses vis-a-vis the earnings of Railways, the statement said.
7th Pay Commission: Indian Railways revenue has been feeling the pinch for a long time and there is no permanent solution on hand as costs have been rising while income has not been able to keep pace. With Indian Railways focussing in a major way to improve safety and speed issues of trains, the expenditure is soaring fast. What is also worked into this equation are the salaries paid under the 7th pay commission aegis.
Giving this information to the Rajya Sabha in a written reply, Minister of State of Railways Rajen Gohain in a statement revealed many aspects. The minister informed the Upper House that during 2016-17 and 2017-18, "the growth of traffic earnings was not commensurate to the high growth of working expenses comprising inter alia of pay, allowances and pension on account of implementation of 7th Central Pay Commission recommendations." In effect, the 7th pay commission based hike in employees pay is weighing heavy on the transporter, aside from other things.
Though Indian Railways have been generating ‘Excess’ after meeting working expenses from own revenues, the amount of ‘Excess’ has varied over the years depending on the pace of growth of working expenses vis-a-vis the earnings of Railways, the statement said.
"Periodic Pay Commissions, performance of the economy at large, intense competition from other modes of transport like road and air affects the capability of Indian Railways to raise revenue earnings at a faster pace than the growth in working expenditure. Thus, while there has been a progressive rise in Railways’ capital expenditure, the contribution of Railways’ internal resources to the same has gone down occasionally especially during the years of implementation of Pay Commission recommendations," the statement added
Elsewhere, central government employees are waiting for a pay hike based on a new fitment formula that would hike minimum salary to Rs 26,000. Hope is that an announcement of a pay hike will be made during the approaching big national holiday.
Source: NDTV
