Railway engineers continue stir against negligence: Comparison of Pay Scales of Railway Engineers to others

Sub :      Memorandum on
plight of Railway’s middle management ( safety) Engineers

 Hon’ble Sir,

                    North
Central Railway Engineers Association Jhansi Division heartily
congratulate you on behalf of thousands of middle management  Engineers
(Junior Engineers & Sr.Section Engineers) / CMS/DMS/IT (EDP) staff, for the
strengthening of economy & the recent step taken by your self in this
regard.

Sir, North Central Railway Engineers Association is
an affiliated association of All India Railway Engineers Federation, which is
sole representative organization of about one lakh degree / diploma Engineers
working over Indian Railways, and those are struggling under the banner of
AIREF for respected status since 1989 in the Railway.  

Sir, we Railway Engineers of Railways desired
for proper respect to their multifunctional works / untiring efforts to
maintain safety in the system as a middle management. It is our great honour to
represent our issues before you. Previously, we could have been able to
convinced to Board through our previous Railway Ministers Hon’ble Shri K. C.
Lenka Ji & Er. Nitish Kumar Ji for ‘Engineers’ designation & Hon’ble
Didi Mamata Banerjee in the form of Ist class pass to JE at entry level, we
always be grateful to them. We expect that Hon’ble sir, will be convinced with
our genuine non-financial demand of group ‘B’ status & recognition to our forum
to give voice to the middle management, in respect of implementation of
recommendation of SCPC as well as to implement Justice Khanna Committee.  

Sir, We request for your kind attention towards the plight
of Railway Engineers and to  spare few minutes from your busy
schedule to go through the following justifications & issues in favour of
our demands.

1.      There are about 1 lakh
middle management Engineers working in Indian Railways, who are diploma &
degree holders in Engineering of various branches.

2.      We, working as Junior
Engineers and Senior Section Engineers / CMT / DMS/ IT(EDP) are the only
technically qualified staff in Group ‘C’ cadre in Railways.

3.      We play the leading
role to make Indian Railways one of the leading Railways in world, for which we
have been denoted as back-bone of Indian Railways.

4.     We are directly involved
with safety and economy of Indian Railways.

5.      It is no need to
mention here that the technical works require more skill, education, higher
intellectual level, accuracy and deep thinking than others non technical works.

6.      We do the work
round-the-clock without any specific rest and also at remote areas.

7.     It is very
disappointing to mention here that in the 6th CPC, we the sub-ordinate
Engineers have got raw deal. The disappointment still aggravates, when we see
that Railway have upgraded the non-technical/ supporting/ assisting staff like
nurses, school teachers, accounts staff etc, who are not directly involved in
asset building, development, operation and safety of Railways and our plight
goes unheard.  It is worth calling here that our non-technical /
supporting category of staffs were placed below us till 4th Pay
Commission, and now they are placed above us without any extra duty &
responsibility!

8.      In Indian Railways, in
stead of comparing the Engineers with doctors, the Engineers are now placed
below nurses, those are providing their services to look after the employee,
while he is sick under the guidance / prescription of Doctors. Where as Engineers
are directly involve in Railway operation/ safety / economy and maintaining the
image of Railway in the society, but they are given grade pay below nursing
staff which is a great social injustice to graduate / diploma Engineers, who
are always dedicated to make Indian Railways as leading railways in the world
Railways.

9.      Though the
nature of work handled by Railway Engineers can not be compared with work of
other category, it can at least be compared on the basis of
qualification. The required qualification for the post of a nurse in Indian
railways is Diploma in Nursing (Matriculation + 3 years), and that for Railway
Engineers is degree/diploma in engineering in their respective field like Civil
Engg., Mechanical Engg., Electrical Engg., Electronics Engg. / IT etc.
Moreover, Engineering is a very specialized professional education, which
remains a dream of most, available to top rung students only that too
at national level selection.

10.       Further above
& over the requisite technical degree / diploma, its only we the Railway
Engineers, who are to undergo railway specific training for 1 to 2
years to become Railway Engineers, and these 1-2 year have not been considered
for  granting MACPS benefit till now.

11.       The
sub-ordinate Engineers are to undergo periodic training/ refresher courses to
run the Indian Railways at updated standards in line with world development.

12.       We are screened
for higher/highest standard of medical suitability, which demands to
remain physically & psychologically fit from entry to end of our career for
proper discharge of duty – a phenomenon that has hardly been taken into
account despite enacting a rigorous work schedule (HOER) for us.

13.      Professional Hazards
involved in our work is quite high, and a number of us are quite promptly
de-categorized, without ever being paid adequate weightage for the same in pay
structure.

14.      The task, we
handle can be comparable to managerial position as we have to take decisions
for speedy and efficient disposal of works at every level and we owe direct
responsibility for the work we do. It is a matter of great dissatisfaction
among the sub-ordinate Engineers that the demanding and challenging nature of
our work has not been recognized while fixing up of our pay structures and
other benefits.

15.      A comparison (before
re-designation) between nursing staff (the highest upgraded cadre in Group ‘C’
) and Engineers is enclosed herewith as Annexure-I & with other
non-technical category as Annexure-II for your kind reference.

16.      If any mishap is
happened anywhere, the concerned JEs/ SSEs are immediately made direct
responsible, which is not very likely in the case of non-technical staff like
nurses/Teachers/ Account personnel.

17.      Considering the
nature of duties and responsibilities, we should always be placed above Nursing
staff and any other staff in Group ‘C’ cadre. Apex group ‘C’ scale
(Rs.840-1040) was only been awarded to our SSE level post upto 3rd pay
commission.

18.      Till 4th pay
commission the pay scales of sub-ordinate Engineers were the highest among all
Group-C cadres.

19.      In other Central
Govt. and State Govt. the JEs are assured with time bound promotions/ Time
scale with status upto Executive Engineer level and all degree Engineers are of
gazetted status right from entry itself but this system is not available in
Indian Railways, it demoralize our hard worker Engineers & hence talented
Railway Engineers are leaving Railway services to join State Govt / Private
Concerned for better prospects. Not a single promotion available in
normal hierarchy to the graduate Engineers entering in Railway as SSE/GP-4600

A comparison of Railways with State Govt JE is given
below-  

20.      DOPT had recommended
to give Group-B status for Pay Band -2  i.e. from Grade Pay Rs.
4200/- to Rs. 5400 vide its India Gazette notification no. 605, dated.
09.04.2009. But Railway did not implemented the part of notification
till now i.e. classification of Gr B for PB-2 Supervisory staff but from the
same notification , it has been accepted to upgrade the classification of our
artisan group ‘D’ staff to group ‘C’ vide Railway Board’s RBE no – 5/2010 dtd.
08.01.2010. It is more panic that our counterpart central Govt deptt accepted
the recommendation of 6th CPC to enhance the status of the Subordinate
Engineers in Group ‘B and hence in all other Deptt of central Govt JE has been
given Group B status , but herein Railways, it has been damaged all the
horizontal / vertical relativity in supervisory / supporting (Artisan) staff.
It come to know that Railway Board has ignored the recommendation of DOPT for
group B status to Subordinate Engineers under the pressure of  Labour
Unions. Due to this talented Engineers are  exodus railways, to join
other deptt to enjoy the social status of group B since entry grade as JE.

21.      Promotional prospects
for subordinate Engineers are very limited to become group B and group ‘A’,
since group B post in Railway is very limited compared to all other Central
Govt Deptt. A Comparison of  employees ratio as per Vth CPC from
group C to group A is given below in present term including SCPC upgradations.

After 6th CPC, PB-2 (GP-4200) has also been
upgraded to group B in all other central Govt deptt., where as in Railways, all
group ‘D’ post has been upgraded to group C, hence ratio of employee in group
‘B’ enhanced compared to existing in Central Govt., but in Railway it is still
0.5%. Hon’ble Sir,  may kindly consider to rectify the situation in
Railway to attract talented engineers to join railway .

22.      There are two
recognized labour Federations under Indian Railways, who represent all staff
from Group-C & D (Now group C) including subordinate Engineers . But they
use Railway Engineers as their financial managers and not represent properly at
highest level, due to which we have been neglected continuously by Railway
Board. After introducing of election process, labour unions started misbehave
humiliation and threatening to get favor of majority of labour governed by us.
Many cases reported for mishandling , abusing , insulting of Engineers by
activist of labour unions

23.      We, Engineers
are in minority and both the labour Union/ Federations are ignoring our
grievances and stand with majority of labour working under our Engineers. We
middle management Engineers desired for separate recognition. Since grievances
of Supervised & Supervisor can not be dealt in same union, that’s why,
Justice Khanna committee had recommended to debarring Railway Engineers from
joining labour unions & to give reorganization to sub-ordinate
Engineers of Indian Railways separately to represent their problems at proper
level but this was not accepted by Railways.

In all other central governments & all state
governments, the associations of Subordinate Engineers are recognized by their
concerned departments.

Considering the above points and justification, AIREF
desired for kind favour of Hon’ble MR to consider our justified demands
reiterated as follows-

OUR MAIN DEMANDS: 

1.               Recognition
of All India Railway Engineers Federation (AIREF) and its affiliated Zonal
Railway Engineers Associations like Engineers Associations/ Federations of all
other Central & all State Governments.

a.      Provide opportunity to
contest election for recognition and to support any origination after election
in achieving required no of votes percentage

b.      Implement right to
reject in forth coming election of recognition of labour unions

c.      Implement Khanna
Committee, to debar Railway Engineers from joining labour Unions

2.               Grant
of minimum Grade Pay

3.               Group-B
cadre to all sub-ordinate Engineers in PB-2 as per DOPT gazette Notification
no. 605 of 09.04.09 with gazetted status, as already implemented in CPWD/ Defence
and other central Govt deptt.

4.               Time
bound promotions from JE to Junior Administrative grade officer at 8th, 16th
& 24th years.

5.               Remove
anomaly of Modified Assured career progression (MACPS)

a.      Counting of apprentice
period under MACPS

b.      Benefit of MACPS be
ensure to JE/SSE of Drg / Design considering current structure of cadre i.e
entry at JE(GP-4200) , abolish and merged grade in earlier pay
commission should not be counted under MACPS, which is not in cadre
hierarchy (Tracer / Jr Draftsman) now.

c.      Provide stepping up to
the senior against the junior, who acquired grade pay more than his senior in
MACPS.

d.      Provide upgraded
classification as per grade pay and ensure status accordingly.

e.      Provide MACPS at
8/16/24 year of service as given in the Defense ministry

f.        Provide
MACPS on cadre hierarchy on functional post / grade only, remove and merged
grade pay 4600 with GP- 4800, which is most closer by Rs 200/-.

6.               Incentive
to all technical cadres that is Design / Store / IT / CMT / Civil / Electrical
/ Mechanical maintenance working in workshop/ shed/ open line organisation

7.               Superintending
/ PCO Allowance should be increased 30% in workshops / production Units and
Arduous Duty Allowance @ 30% to all J.Es, SSEs in open line and Construction.

8.               At
par Cadre restructuring to all subordinate Engineers or technical cadres in the
ratio of 10:90 for  JE/AE(SSE) including Drg. design / CMS/ DMS /IT
cadres etc.

9.               Provide
fixation of pay to promotee at par with direct recruits in promotional post

10.          Abolition
of 70% LGS exam to give smooth channel of promotion on the basis of seniority
cum bench marking to senior most SSE & to direct recruit graduate Engineers
as SSE.

a.      Stop immediately
implementation of integrated seniority as per Rly Bd. Letter no. RBE 53/2011
for the purpose of promotion/selection to Group-B posts

b.   Open a promotional channel to qualified
loco pilot to became JE / SSE through LDCE / GDCE

11.          Grievances
related with passes.

a.      Include Father and
mother in the definition of Family as per Indian culture to ensure them also
the pass and medical facility.

b.      Provide entitlement in
tatkal ticket through privilege / on duty passes/ PTOs

c.      Provide e-ticket
facility to Railway employee on pass/ PTOs / e-pass( May me planned).

d.      Remove restriction of
no of tickets in Rajdhani/ Shatabdi / Duranto express trains on passes / PTOs

e.      Provide 6 set of
passes on GP-4800 and 3 set passes on retirement

12.          Redefine
apprentice as probation period or induction training to ensure all benefit on
the period spent and ensure that  such training for induction not to
be more than one year for degree / Diploma in any cadre.

13.          Conduct
LDCE ( 30% ) through UPSE for Assistant officer in GP-6600/- and provide at par
channel to these talented Engineers like wise UPSE qualified Engineers

14.          Scrap
new pension scheme and ensure financial security in old age through old pension
scheme.

15.          Increase
no tax limit to Rs 5 Lakhs and  exemption of all allowances from
Income tax.

16.          No
corporatization in Indian Railway and its Production Units

17.          Provide
reimbursement of tuition fee of children studying in higher education ( Engg. /
Medical / MBA etc)

18.          Provide
improved rest house facilities at all major railway station for Railway
Engineers on the model of Sr Subordinate rest house at Bilaspur / SECR or
provide hotel facility as given to all Central Govt. employees

19.          Ensure
CUG facilities to all Railway Engineers and increase the CUG utility amount to
minimum Rs 500/- for JE and Rs 1000/- for SSE

20.          Provide
brief case ( amount )  to all JE/SSE irrespective of any condition

21.          Provide
one notional increment ,who is retiring in between Jan to June, every year

22.           Set
up technical library in all divisional / HQ office including workshops, loco
sheds under functional management of Engineers Associations of the unit.

           Hon’ble
Sir, on behalf of all Railway Engineers, we request to kindly, consider our
demands for providing social justice and at par status with other non-technical
staff & Engineers of other Central & State Governments.

We shall always be grateful to you.

                                                                                                        

Yours
faithfully,          

 General Secretary

NCREA @ JHS

Annexure-I

Comparison of
Pay Scales

Nurse ( the
highest upgraded cadre in Group ‘C’ ) v/s Subordinate Engineers

(Note: Comparison is made in equivalent of pay scales of 5th
Pay Commission)

Table –I (Staff Nurse vs. Jr. Engineer-II)

Table – II (Nursing Sister vs. Jr. Engineer-I)

Table – III (Matron vs. Section Engineer)

Table – IV (Chief Matron vs. Sr. Section Engineer)

·        Sr.
Section Engineer was never upgraded in any pay commission, who
plays the main role for safety, operation & economy of Indian Railways,
among any cadre.

·        Now, a
graduate Engineer & a diploma holder of nursing in same GP (Grade Pay) i.e.
Rs. 4600/- ! in Railways.

Promotional prospectus from direct recruitment grade in
Group-C cadre

 Annexure-II

Comparative Statement of Supervising Engineers &
other Non-safety Categories

(# – Before 6th Pay Commission,
there was no direct recruitment as Sr. Section Engineer & only promotion
from Section Engineer. After 6th PC, Section Engineers &
Sr. Section have been merged & Graduate Engineers are directly
recruited as Sr Section Engineer against 20% vacancies) but they have no
further channel of promotion in normal hierarchy .

          Continuous
Downfall in Pay Scales:

Annexure-III

 A comparison between Senior Section Engineer &
others:

          Upgradation
of non safety & non tech. staff:

          The
above comparison is to explain down grading of Railway
Engineers.