With only a skeletal staff working in most of the branches of Madurai division of Southern Railway, the administration has decided not to pay some allowances, which required physical verification, with the April salary.
In a circular dated April 15, Senior Divisional Personnel Officer C. Sudhagaran has asked the Branch Officers and supervisory officials to prepare salary details with basic pay, DA, transport allowance and house rent allowance. Those entities that did not require physical checking such as dress allowance, hardship and risk allowance, running allowance and non-practising allowance to railway doctors, newspaper/magazine allowance, breakdown allowance and dress allowance for medical department, health and malaria allowance would be paid.
Allowances for night duty, national holiday, travel and overtime would not be included. “Due to COVID-19 lockdown, most of the divisional office staff are unable to come to office,” the circular said.
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With limited number of staff, only those allowances that were fixed and need not be verified had been included and bills that vary for every individual each month and need to be manually prepared and processed at different levels would not be paid now,” a railway official said. Also the kilometrage allowance (KMA) given to running staff and breakdown allowance (BDA) to railway employees of running sheds and carriage and wagon depots who were earmarked for attending to breakdown duties would not be paid, an official said.