Rail station masters to work on empty stomach on October 31, protesting sealing in night duty allowance

Around 35,000 station masters across the railway network will work on empty stomach on Saturday to protest the announcement of sealing in their night duty allowance, the station masters union said on Thursday.

The All India Station Masters Union (AISMU) said they have been protesting the move from October 7 and the decision to organise a token hunger strike was taken after their demands remained unanswered.

They demanded that the government withdraw an order which stated that all officials above the basic pay of Rs 43,600/ per month were not to be paid night duty allowance.

"We demand that the sealing of the allowance and the orders to recover the night duty allowance already made since 2017 be withdrawn, a Rs 50 lakh insurance be provided to the line staff and the privatisation and corporatisation of railways be stopped. We will hold a 12-hour hunger strike, which will be the fourth phase of our protest," AISMU said in a statement.

The union said that they will send letters to all railway board members in the first phase, then all station masters on night shift on October 15 will light candles at all railway stations registering their protest and in the third phase, from October 20 to October 26, they will wear black badges.

The Railway Ministry, however, said that as per DoPT instructions in July 2020, all officials above the basic pay of Rs 43,600 are not to be paid the night duty allowance. These instructions are effective from July 1, 2017.

"The directives have already been implemented in other ministries. Implementation of the directives of DOP&T is in line with the implementation all across the government. Nothing exclusive is being implemented for Railways. In government, all employees are treated on par across the board on the basis of the basic salary.

"As far as the issue of recovery of the Night Duty Allowance, the matter is being examined," a railway spokesperson said.