PNM Meeting Between Railway Board and AIRF (11th & 12th April, 2023) – Minutes

Minutes of the PNM Meeting between Railway Board and All India Railwaymen’s Federation (AIRF) held on 11th and 12th April 2023

The PNM meeting between the Railway Board and the All India Railwaymen’s Federation (AIRF) was held on April 11th and 12th, 2023. The Chairman of the meeting, CRB & CEO, welcomed the President, General Secretary, and other representatives of AIRF, commending their continued cooperation. He expressed confidence in the dedication and cooperation of railway employees, highlighting the record-breaking achievements of the year 2022-23.

MINUTES
of
The PNM Meeting
between
Railway Board
and
All India Railwaymen’s Federation
held
on 11th & 12th April, 2023
MINUTES OF THE PNM MEETING HELD BETWEEN RAILWAY BOARD AND AIRF ON 11TH & 12TH APRIL, 2023

MEMBERS PRESENT

Section – A: Introduction

CRB & CEO as Chairman of the meeting welcomed the President/AIRF, General Secretary/AIRF, other representatives of AIRF. He congratulated the Federation for their continued cooperation throughout the year and expressed that employees will continue to work with the same dedication & cooperation and IR will achieve even higher results.

• CRB&CEO mentioned following best ever achievements recorded in 2022-23 with collective efforts:

• • Highest ever freight loading of 1512 MT, compared to 1418 MT in 2021-22.
  • Highest ever Electrification of 6,542 RKM, compared to 6366 RKm in 2021-22. With this, IR is set to become the largest electrified railway network in the world.
  • Highest ever commissioning of new lines/doubling/gauge conversion including DFC: 5243 kms, as against 2909 kms in 2021-22. Thus, on an average, 14.4 km of track is laid every day.
  • 2nd highest ever Electric Locomotive induction of 1084 in 2022-23, as against 1110 in 2021-22.
  • Highest ever length of 530 kms of track was upgraded to automatic signalling during 2022- 23 as compared to 218 kms in 2021-22
  • 1065 ROBs/ RUBs & 375 FOBs were constructed and 880 level crossing gates were eliminated to enhance safety for trains and passengers.
  • Best ever scrap sales of Rs 5756 Cr vs Rs 5316 Cr in last year
  • Strengthening the supply chain with seamless cargo loading, 30 Gati Shakti Cargo terminals were commissioned 2022-23 as against 21 freight terminals in 2021-22.
  • Yard remodeling was done in 414 stations during 2022-23 in Indian Railways.
• He applauded all the employees of Railway and their families for their continued efforts and support in enabling Indian Railways to reach new heights.
• He further mentioned that:-
  • Vande Bharat continues to be the jewel of the nation, connecting different states and cities. It continues to be loved by all citizens and we are making all efforts to maintain production targets.
  • Redevelopment of Stations is also an important focus area. Under Amrit Bharat Station scheme, 1275 stations shall be developed as city centres and to provide passengers with world class facilities at basic prices.
  • One Station One product stalls are very popular among passengers and Zonal Railways have been instructed to proliferate the OSOP Scheme to the fullest potential covering maximum number of stations.
  • Sustained focus will be given to creation of infrastructure in form on Mission 3000 MT by 20230. The investment plan to implement it requires Capex investment of Rs 8.5 Lakh Cr over the next five years.
• He expressed that with these sustained efforts the modal share will shift toward railways, which will ultimately help in reduction of logistic cost and improve the overall economy.
• Regarding Manpower, CRB&CEO expressed that our dedicated manpower was our best asset, which continues to work round the clock. He mentioned a few initiatives taken for HR Management and Staff Welfare:-
• As part of endeavour to bring in transparency in the system, for the first time in the history of Indian Railways Centralised Computer based examinations (CBT) for promotion to Group ‘B’ posts in Organised Services were introduced to reduce human interference and time taken for holding these selections.
• 5,619 Compassionate Ground cases have been settled out of 6,287 pending cases i.e. around 90% cases have been finalised.
• Finalised 2,021 cases of medical de-categorization, which is more than 91% of the pendency and accrual.
  Directions have been issued for speedier disposal of mutual transfer and own request transfer cases:
  • As a result, 5,297 case (around 74%) of mutual transfer have been implemented
  • 3,951 cases of Own Request Transfer also have been considered along with 4,828 cases of Inter-Divisional Transfer
• Scout/Guide & Cultural quota recruitment was started in this financial year after a gap of 2-3 years.
• Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) and Railway Recruitment Cells (RRCs) have taken special efforts to complete the ongoing recruitments namely CEN 01/2019 (NTPC categories), CEN RRC 01/2019 (Level 1) and CEN 03/2019 (Ministerial & Isolated categories):
  • More than 80,000 candidates have been empanelled and more than 70,000 candidates are in process of being empanelled in various categories.
• Keeping in view of the acute stagnation prevailing amongst supervisors cadre, a two stage upgradation in the pay scales of 46 categories of seven departments have been effected vide RBE No. 155/2022 dated 17.11.2022
  • Through this upgradation, 50% of the posts (approx. 87 thousand) in these 46 categories in L-7 were upgraded to L-8
  • Thereafter 50% of these posts were further upgraded to L-9 on non- functional basis after 4 years in L-8.
• Exercise relating to Cadre restructuring of Group ‘C’ categories has been initiated. Committee consisting of staff side and official side has been constituted and the preliminary meeting has also been held.
• 60 days Special Maternity Leave have been allowed to female railway servants undergoing trauma due to death of child soon after birth/stillbirth.
• 78 days Productivity Linked Bonus (PLB) has been paid to the Railway employees for previous year.
• Passes/PTOs have been validated for travel in all types of trains including Vande Bharat, Tejas Express trains, etc.
• Post Retirement Complimentary Pass entitlement of employees retired in different Pay Commission has been rationalised and uniform entitlement on the basis of “Status cum PLPM” has been introduced.
• Instructions have been issued for adhering to the guidelines for ensuring safety, security and empowerment of women and girls in their workplace.
• In order to address the evolving needs of Railway servants and their family, a new head named ‘Promotion of Mental Health and Well Being of the employees’ has been introduced in the ‘Staff Benefit Fund’ namely
• Regarding HRMS, he mentioned that out of all 22 modules of HRMS envisaged to digitise various service and establishment related aspects, 11 modules have been successfully implemented in their entirety across entire Indian Railways and 60% of the HRMS project has been completed by this time. With concerted and sustained efforts on all fronts, the whole HRMS project including all the remaining modules is likely to be implemented in second half of 2023.
• CRB&CEO hoped that many such initiatives and policy decisions will continue to be taken for benefit of our Railway employees and their family members.
• CRB&CEO thanked AIRF for their continued cooperation and conveyed his best wishes for the financial year 2023-24.

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