Hon'ble Minister for Railways Sh. Malikarjun Kharge has written
a D.O. Letter to Minister for Finance regarding abolition of New Pension System
from India Railways. The text of the said letter, which has been
published by AIRF, is reproduced below:-
MALLIKARJUN KHARGE
MINISTER FOR RAILWAYS
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
NEW DELHI
No.
2012/F(E)III/1/4-Part
29 March, 2014.
Dear Shri P. Chidambaram ji,
Through this letter, I wish to draw your attention to a long
standing demand raised by both Staff Federations of Railways on National Pension
Scheme (NPS) for employees of Indian Railways. The Federations have been
expressing resentment over operation in the Railways of the National Pension
Scheme, which is perceived as a lower social security cover for Railway
employees. Their contention is that there are enough grounds for Railway
employees to be treated differently from other civil employees of the
Government, and that Indian Railways should operate the traditional defined
.benefit pension scheme available to pre-01-01-2004 appointee's.
You will recall that a few organizations/categories of
Government employees were specifically exempted from the purview of NPS on
consideration of special, riskier and more onerous nature of duties. The
Federations have been drawing parallel with of nature of duties performed by
most categories of Railway employees with those in the Armed Forces. They contend that
during British period, Railways was conceived and operated as an auxiliary wing
of the Army. It was also realized that by virtue of its complex nature,
Railways required a high level of discipline and efficiency to be able to
perform its role as the prime transport mode. Railways is an operational
organization required to be run round the clock through the year. Railway
employees have to work in inhospitable conditions, braving extreme weather,
unfriendly law and order scenario, and inherent risks associated with the
Railway operations itself. As in the Armed Forces, many have to stay
away from their families for long periods while performing duties in areas
where adequate facilities are lacking.
I feel that there is considerable merit in
the contention of the Staff Federations. Besides the critical and complex
nature of duties of Railway employees, the hazards involved are also high.
Despite best efforts for enhanced safety measures, a large number of Railway
employees lose their lives or meet with serious injuries in the course of performance
of their duties each year.
During the period 2007-08 to October 2011, the number of Railway
employees killed during the course of their duty has been more than number of
passengers/other members of public killed in Rail related accidents including accidents at unmanned level crossings. While the
nature of duties of Railway employees is inherently high risk during peace
time, they also perform functions of critical importance during war time and
times of natural calamities, in moving men and materials across the country to
maintain supply of essential commodities and safeguard integrity of the nation.
In my view, there are adequate grounds for the Government to
consider exemption for Railway employees from the purview of NPS. The
implications of this would be that Government expenditure would reduce over the
next few years through discontinuance of Government Contribution under the NPS,
but the long term liabilities would increase, as financial commitments in the defined benefit pension scheme
would be higher. Since Railways are required to meet the pensionary outgo from
their internal resources, switch over to defined benefit pension scheme would call for a more
systematic provisioning under the Pension Fund through appropriate revenue generating
measures. With Rail Tariff Authority on the horizon, I believe that this would
be possible.
In the light of the above, I suggest that our request for
exemption from operation of the NPS be considered
sympathetically and necessary approvals communicated.
A copy of each demands raised by the two Federations is
enclosed.
With regards,
Yours sincerely,
/sd/
(Mallikarjun Khagre)
Shri P. Chidambaram, Finance Minister,
Government of India, North Block,
New Delhi-110001.
