7th pay panel recommendations affected Railways’ health: Piyush Goyal

7th pay panel recommendations affected Railways’ health: Piyush Goyal

New Delhi: Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said Indian Railways has been spending an additional Rs 22,000 crore on salaries and pensions of its employees following the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations, which has hit its financial health.

The Minister’s statement came amid criticism over the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report saying the Indian Railways’ operating ratio may be the worst in the last 10 years.

Responding to a question on operational losses of the railways during Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, Goyal said: “After the implementation of seventh pay commission recommendations, there has been an over-expenditure of Rs 22,000 crore for salaries and pension of railway employees. This has contributed to the overall operating loss.”

He said railways spend a lot of money on cleanliness, running suburban railway trains, gauge conversions, and other such things.

“All these costs and have an effect on railways,” he said. “When we see the overall picture, implementation of the seventh pay commission recommendations and running trains under social obligations lead to operating ratio going down by 15 percent in just one year,” the Minister said.

His remarks came two days after the CAG tabled its report in Parliament and highlighted that the Indian Railways recorded an operating ratio of 98.44 percent in the 2017-18 financial year, which is the worst in the previous 10 years.

In its report, the national auditor said, “Since 2016-17, railways’ revenue surplus has been falling which is indicative of failing financial health of Indian Railways.”

It said that during the year 2017-18, the net revenue surplus decreased by 66.10 percent from Rs 4,913 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 1,665.61 crore in 2017-18. (IANS)

Top Headlines

No stories found.
Sentinel Assam
www.sentinelassam.com