Austerity not new to rly officials

Since January, SWR is permitting officials to travel only economy class

The Sixth Pay Commission had permitted First Class or Business Class travel by air for railway officers, who are equal in rank to Joint Secretary.

However, Bangalore, Hubli and Mysore divisions of the South Western Railway (SWR) took a firm decision to permit them to travel by Economy class only since the beginning of this year.  
Nearly 50 officers in the  SWR Division, which includes Divisional Railway Managers, Chief Engineers, Chief Mechanical Engineers and heads of various sections, have been travelling only by Economy class, explains General Manager of  SWR Division Kuldeep Chaturvedi.

“Tickets for official visits for all these officers are booked by the Division and we book only Economy class for them,” he said. This has been scrupulously adhered to right from January, 2009.  Austerity has been advocated in the department ever since Mamta Banerjee took over as Railway Minister.

Cost cutting by 10 per cent

“All the divisions had been instructed to cut costs by 10% in an order received nearly three months ago.”  This has made us cut down our expenditure during functions and meetings, the General Manager said. 

DH News Service