Railwaymen to get 78-day wages as bonus

As a festive sop, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the payment of Productivity-Linked Bonus (PLB) for railwaymen, equivalent to 78 days’ wages. This will have a financial impact of ~2,090.96 crore this year. All non-gazetted railway employees — excluding Railway Protection Force and Railway Protection Special Force — will be eligible for the bonus. The payment of bonus will be made before Dussehra and Puja holidays. “Payment of PLB would result in motivating a large number of employees to improve the performance of the Railways and enhance productivity levels further, besides maintaining industrial peace,” the government said. PLB is paid to about 1.2 million railway employees every year. The total outgo last year was about ~1,030 crore.