No. AIRF/8th CPC
Dated: October 30, 2026
The General Secretaries,
All Affiliated Unions,
Dear Comrades,
Sub: Brief of AIRF’s interaction with the 8th CPC
Pursuant to invitation of the 8th Central Pay Commission, All India Railwaymen’s Federation (AIRF) appeared before the Pay Commission today to present its Oral Evidence. The interaction was held in the presence of the Chairperson of the Commission, Smt. Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, along with Prof. Pulak Ghosh, Member, and Shri Pankaj Jain, Member-Secretary, 8th CPC.
From All India Railwaymen’s Federation (AIRF), Com. Shiva Gopal Mishra, General Secretary/AIRF, Com. J.R. Bhosale, Working President/AIRF, Com. Mukesh Mathur, Asstt. General Secretary/AIRF, Com. Amit Kumar Ghosh, Asstt. General Secretary/AIRF, Com. S.K. Tyagi, Asstt. General Secretary/AIRF, Com. K.V. Raghavendra, Asstt. General Secretary/AIRF, Com. L.N. Pathak, Zonal Secretary/AIRF, Com. Pijush Chakraborty, Asstt. General Secretary/AIRF, Com. Smt. Preeti Singh, National Youth Convener/AIRF, took part in the interaction.
The total time provided by the Pay Commission for the interaction was of two hours (11:30 to 13:30 hrs.), as such we had segregated the time. Accordingly, the first half-an-hour was for discussing General Issues of the Memorandum submitted by the Federation to the 8th CPC, like Minimum Wage, Railway-Specific Allowance etc.
The second half-an-hour was for discussion on the issues related to Loco & Traffic Running Staff, and the third half-an-hour time was to discuss the issues of the Track Maintainers and Allied Category of P. Way, and the last half-an-hour was for discussing the issues of the Technicians of all the departments of the Indian Railways.
It was emphasized by AIRF that the working of the Indian Railways is unique, which cannot be compared to any other department of Union Government, because Railways operate round-the-clock 24X7 throughout the year in all weathers and climatic conditions at different parts of the country having distinct geographical and environmental conditions.
We also submitted to the Pay Commission that the Indian Railways are considered to be the “Second Line of Defence” after the Indian Army because of the fact that, during Natural Calamities, war-like situation and Pandemic, it is the Railwaymen and the Indian Railways that serve the Nation on the forefront. The working conditions as well as other service related issues of the Railwaymen, particularly in the wake of fast pace of modernization, the Railwaymen deserve placing in higher pay-scales as the employees of almost all the categories are skilled Workers only, who have to either maintain different assets, i.e. rolling stock, signaling and track etc. or operate the same.
It was also explained to the Pay Commission that, keeping in view the number of casualties and grievous injuries sustained during the course of employment by the Railwaymen, they should be considered for “Special Allowance”, like Risk & Hardship Allowance, Hazardous Duty Allowance, Hill Allowance and Dress Allowance to each and every category of the Railwaymen.
Subsequently, from a PowerPoint Presentation, the issues of Loco & Traffic Running Staff were highlighted before the Pay Commission by Com. P. Ganesan (SRMU), for which representatives from the particular categories were nominated, discussed the same with the Pay Commission, which was supplemented by the Office-Bearers of the Federation.
The issues of Track Maintainers as well as Allied Category of P. Way were also discussed in detail with the help of PowerPoint Presentation by Com. Manish Dwivedi (NRMU/NR) and Com. Brajpal Singh (NCRMU), and it was emphatically stressed that the working of the Track Maintainers is very tough and hazardous as also owing to drastic improvement in track geometry and precision they are required to possess better know-how and technical knowledge that warrants them to be treated at par with the Technicians of other Engineering Disciplines of the Indian Railways.
We also demanded Certain Specific Allowances for the Track Maintainers, Patrolman, Keyman and Gateman of the Civil Engineering Department.
Lastly, the case of the Technicians of all the Engineering Disciplines of the Indian Railways was also discussed at length with the support of PowerPoint Presentation by Com. Mukesh Singh (ECRKU), Com. Arif Hussain (NERMU), Com. Imran (NRMU/NR) and Com. L.N. Pathak, ZS/AIRF/RCFMU/MCF/RBL, and we demanded that, they should be fairly treated by the 8th Central Pay Commission and placed in better pay-scales, and also demanded merger of certain intermediate pay-scales into one, so as to facilitate better promotional prospects for them.
Explaining the degree of Hardship and Risk involved in their performance of duties, AIRF also demanded adequate Risk & Hardship Allowance for them as also adequate Dress Allowance for all the Technicians of the Indian Railways.
Female Representatives of AIRF, Ms Ashima and Ms Dolly Kumari (NRMU/NR) belonging to Loco & Traffic Running Staff as well as Track Maintainer Categories also explained the problems of Female Loco Pilots, Asstt. Loco Pilots, Train Managers, as well as Track Maintainers before the Pay Commission, on which we observed that the Chairperson of the 8th CPC was fully convinced with their submission.
We are fully satisfied that, our interaction with the 8th Central Pay Commission was very fruitful and convincing, and sincerely hope that the Pay Commission would definitely consider our submission with all seriousness while deciding pay-scales and other perks for the Railwaymen.
This is for your information and wider publicity among the Railwaymen.
With Fraternal Greetings,
Comradely yours,
(Shiva Gopal Mishra)
General Secretary
