SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, May 27: Supervisors across all departments of the Divisional Railway will now be entitled to receive overtime allowance for working beyond their scheduled duty hours. The Railway Board has issued a clarification on the matter, resolving a long-standing ambiguity and authorizing overtime allowance payment under Office Order No. 41/25.
Acting on this directive, the East Central Railway Karmchari Union (ECRKU) has urged the Dhanbad Railway Division to begin the process of disbursing overtime allowance to eligible supervisors across all departments.
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Demand Raised at PNM Meetings Over the Years
Md Ziauddin, Additional General Secretary of ECRKU and a member of the Dhanbad Rail Division PNM, said that the union had consistently raised the demand for overtime compensation for supervisors during Permanent Negotiating Machinery (PNM) meetings over several years.
Previously, the Finance Department of the Division had rejected the demand, arguing that supervisors do not have fixed duty rosters and are primarily tasked with supervising the work of their subordinates, making them ineligible for overtime benefits.
Clarification from Railway Board Secured by AIRF
Following the denial, ECRKU approached the All India Railwaymen’s Federation (AIRF) to seek clarification from the Railway Board. During a recent PNM meeting with the Board, AIRF General Secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra requested a formal resolution of the issue.
Responding to this, the Railway Board issued an office order on May 6 confirming that divisional railway supervisors are indeed eligible for overtime allowance.
Md Ziauddin has now called on all eligible supervisors to submit the necessary forms to the concerned authority for processing the overtime payment.
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Union Leaders Applaud the Decision
Several union leaders expressed gratitude to the central leadership for securing the benefit. Among those who thanked the AIRF leadership were AIFR Zonal Secretary OP Sharma, Media In-Charge N K Khawas, Organizing Secretary Netajee Subhash, and members Jitendra Kumar Saw, Basant Dubey, RK Singh, BK Saw, I M Singh, Chandan Shukla, PK Sinha, BB Singh, Mahendra Prasad Mahto, RN Choudhary, Ajit Kumar Mondal, Sunil Kumar Singh, Umesh Singh, and CP Pandey.
