Railway services to be disrupted on May 31 as station masters call strike

Railway services across the country are likely to be disrupted as railway station masters are going on a mass leave on May 31 in protest against non-fulfilment of their demands.

The All-India Station Masters’ Association, the apex body of the railway station masters, has informed the Railway Board Chairman about their decision to go for one-day mass casual leave.

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The mass leave will not only disrupt railway services on the day of the strike, but also on subsequent days because the disturbances the one-day absence of station masters will create in the rake link will take at least five days to normalise.

Station masters, who are in-charge of running trains at stations, are the most important cogs in the country’s railway network. They operate signals, apart from ensuring passengers comfort and safety in the station premises.

In smaller stations, they also do commercial jobs like ticket/parcel booking and reservation among other things.

Secretary general of the association P Sunil Kumar said filling up of vacancies of station master posts, restoration of night duty allowance, payment of safety and stress allowance are the major demands of the protesters.

The association has said that around 6,500 of 39,000 posts of station masters in the Railways’ 68 divisions, are currently lying vacant.

“This has resulted in overworking and resultant fatigue on the incumbents, affecting Railways’ performance,” Kumar said.

“Due to the shortage of staff, station masters are finding it difficult even to get a weekly day off, let alone a day’s leave. This has affected the morale of the station masters and has taken a toll on their mental and physical health,” he added.

On top of that, he said, the government has also “abruptly stopped” night duty allowance to station masters since 2019, imposing a ceiling of basic pay of ₹43,600 for the eligibility of the NDA.

“Denial of NDA to station masters and other railway employees whose basic pay exceeds the ceiling limit of ₹43,600 is a blatant violation of a ruling of the Railway Labour Tribunal, 1969,” Kumar said.

“The stress levels of station masters have been beyond the tolerable levels. The payment of safety and stress allowance to station masters is an equally justified demand and should be conceded to the earliest,” the association demanded.

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The overwork due to burgeoning vacancies is only further aggravating the stress-level, the association said.

In the four railway divisions in Bengal, there are around 2,800 posts of station master. There are around 600 vacancies in the state’s 563 railway stations.