he Railwaymen feel much aggrieved because they feel deprived due to none of the announcements made during the Budget Speech by Hon’ble Finance Minister regarding benefits and welfare of the Railwaymen.

No.AIRF/60(35) Dated: February 2, 2018

Hon’ble Minister for Railways,
Ministry of Railways,
Rail Bhawan,
New Delhi

Respected Sir,

Sub: General Budget 2018-19

The Railwaymen feel much aggrieved because they feel deprived due to none of the announcements made during the Budget Speech by Hon’ble Finance Minister regarding benefits and welfare of the Railwaymen.

You will agree that, the Railwaymen, amongst the whole working class in the country, are the hard working and prime mover of the wheels of the development of the nation, even by sacrificing their lives, even then, since last budget, not even a single word used to be spoken during the Budget Speech about our hard working workforce of the Railways.

If we talk about the General Budget, the Railwaymen were also very much hopeful that they will be getting some relief from the government, by raising ceiling of the Income Tax, but nothing has been done, on the other hand it is much propagated that, Rs.40,000 standard deduction has been given to the government employees, which is not going to benefit any of the employees because of enhancement in the Education Cess by 1%. Moreover, exemption, already available for Transport and Medical Reimbursement, has been done away by this announcement in the budget. All this has been created an atmosphere of depression in the minds of the hard working Railwaymen those who perfectly need always a motivation and stress-free atmosphere.

You are already aware that, non-redressal of long pending demands of the Railwaymen and other Central Government Employees, particularly regarding improvement in Minimum Wage and Fitment Formula, National Pension System(NPS), is causing lots of resentment in the Government Employees, which need to be redressed early.

I hope, you will kindly intervene at this juncture and pursue the Hon’ble Finance Minister and Hon’ble Prime Minister to give some relief to the salaried class of this country by enhancing Income Tax Slabs and resolving their long pending demands.

With Kind Regards!