IN A rare move, Regional Labour Officer (Central) has chosen to point out to General Manager of the Indian Railways the need for reconciliation of official stance vis-a-vis stance of employees and that too in midst of conciliation proceeding. RLC, Nagpur, is in midst of hearing the conciliation proceedings on demand of employees seeking house rent allowance (HRA), irrespective of fact that they were allotted official quarters but they were not occupied for variety of reasons.

 

As per labour unions, this is perhaps for first time that C o n c i l i a t i o n Officer chose to c o r r e s p o n d with the Zonal boss, the General Manager, South East Central Railway (SECR), Bilaspur. The Hitavada accessed the official letter dated January 11, 2022, that reveals that RLC Shoaibali H Sayyed upheld the stance of employees of Nagpur Division of SECR and pointed out to General Manager that railway seemed to be on wrong side. Swatantra Railway Bahujan Karmachari Union (SRBKU) had raised the industrial dispute on behalf of employees of Nagpur Division of SECR who were being denied their claim on admissibility of HRA.They have demanded abolition of impugned Joint Procedure Order (J PO) with respect to HRA that in turn linked to quarter allotment. In midst of conciliation proceedings, one has till date not come across such advice on part of the Conciliation Officer so far.

 

Hence the official correspondence with GM assumes importance. RLC in his letter to General Manager pointed out that JPO submitted by Nagpur Division has provisions wherein employees are entitled to receive HRA even in case they are allotted quarter. The dispute arose as employees did not claim the quarter as same being quite old were not worth living but administration interpretation was different that deprived of HRA.

 

The Union in its submission submitted documents wherein employees in Raipur and Bilaspur, the other two divisions of SECR are provided HRA visa-vis quarter allotment. Such different policy within a Zone is discriminatory and SBRKU also submitted copies (pay slips) of employees of Raipur and Bilaspur are being benefited while those of Nagpur Division are bereft of the HRA. Earlier, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Nagpur Division, was issued notice by RLC after SBRKU initiated the conciliation proceedings. DRM in his submission pointed out constitution of a committee but RLC pointed out to General Manager that in past three months no positive outcome is noticed.

 

Thus, RLC pleaded with General Manager to revise the provision of JPO or abolish or repeal the JPO that is in center of conciliation proceedings. Further it is advised that a uniform policy with respect to HRA should be enforced in all divisions and justified the demand. SBRKU representatives had earlier apprised railway officials that the quarters that are allotted to employees lack basic amenities.

 

They even shared the remarks of Inspector of Works (IoW ) indicating need for heavy repairs to Type-I quarters. Therefore employees were right in refusing allotment and this cannot be termed as any wrong doing on part of former. Nearly 100 employees had approached the SBRKU on the said point that led to approaching RLC.