Train service resumes after assurance from rail minister

The strike called by the running staff of Bangladesh Railway demanding withdrawal of the decision to exclude mileage allowance from the pension has been called off.

The protesting running staff call off the strike after the assurance of railway minister Nurul Islam to meet their demand.

Earlier, the loco masters stopped the train service all over the country all of a sudden on Wednesday morning which created a stagnant situation in the country.

Hundreds of passengers have been waiting at the Kamalapur railway station since early morning. The common people and the daily commuters are enduring immense sufferings due to the sudden enforcement of the strike.

The railway minister held a meeting with the protesting running staff at the Kamalapur railway station.

Speaking to the newspersons at around 12.00pm after the meeting, railway minister Nurul Islam said, “The notification from the finance ministry will be cancelled. All sorts of efforts will be made for the cancellation. There will be a meeting with the prime minister on 19 April where we will discuss the issues related to the running staff."

Meanwhile, the station manager of Kamalapur railway station said the train service would resume within a very short time. He said that since morning, some 17 trips have been cancelled.

The term running staff refers to the loco masters, assistant loco masters, guards and travelling ticket examiners.

Loco masters, assistant loco masters, guards and travelling ticket checkers have been enjoying the mileage facility for 160 years under which the running staff are supposed to get additional allowances for working more than eight hours a day. Some 75 per cent of this allowance would be added to the pension.

However, the government issued a gazette notification cancelling these facilities. Since then the Bangladesh Railway Running Staff and Workers’ Association has been staging demonstrations in protest against the decision.

However, they called off their demonstration after a meeting with the top echelons of the ministry on 30 January.

However, on 10 April, the proposal to give gratuity and pension adding the running allowances with the basic salary was cancelled.

After that, they stopped the train movement all over the country on Wednesday all of a sudden which caused immense sufferings for the commuters who came to the railway stations.