The running staffers of Bangladesh Railway have postponed their work abstention for ten working days after the government assured them of finding a solution for their demands through discussion.
They were set to halt railway communications across the country from Monday sticking to their demands for pension and retirement benefits, which the authorities have been refusing to meet.
These staffers include train drivers, assistant drivers, guards and Travelling Ticket Examiners (TTE).
Railway Running Staff Oikya Parishad Coordinator Mujibur Rahman told The Business Post on Sunday night that they have got assurance from the Prime Minister’s Office about further discussion on the issues to find a way out.
“We have been invited to the PMO to hold a meeting with the Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary at 3pm on August 29. We have postposed our work abstention programme in response to the invitation. We will announce the developments in details later,” he said.
He said that they were hopeful about a positive outcome from the meeting.
The staffers claimed that they have been waging movement since the government curtailed their pension and retirement benefits. They used to get special overtime allowance, equal to one day's basic salary, for every eight hours' work.
After retirement, alongside their pension, they used to get 75 per cent of their total running allowance earned throughout their career.
Running staff, including train drivers, had refrained from performing their additional duties outside the scheduled time from July 23. This resulted in the cancellation of various train journeys and schedule disruptions across the country. They had suspended their movement following assurance from the authorities, but their demands were not met.
They said since the British era, the running staffers have been getting additional benefits, and railways have been paying salaries and allowances directly for a long time.
After the Covid-19 pandemic, salaries and allowances are being paid by the Ministry of Finance through an online Integrated Budget and Accounting System-iBAS.
The finance ministry stopped their running allowance system without any discussion. It sent a letter on the issue to the railway ministry on November 3, 2021. Later, in the face of the demonstration, high-ranking railway officials, including the railway minister, had assured them that their demands would be fulfilled.
On April 13 last year, the finance ministry withdrew the letter after train services were suspended across the country due to a strike. The BR authorities wanted to reinstate the facilities on June 11 this year. But within a week, the finance ministry opposed this again in another letter barring that.
There is already a shortage of drivers in the railway, and 1,017 drivers against 1,786 posts are working overtime to keep the trains running. Against a total of around 3,600 posts of staffers, the Bangladesh Railway now has around 1,500 staff.
