Home
+
Published : 29 Jan 2025, 02:40 PM
The 30-hour strike called by the Bangladesh Railway running staff has cost Dhaka’s Kamalapur Railway Station nearly Tk 12 million in financial losses.
“Kamalapur Railway Station earns between Tk 11.50 million to Tk 12 million in a day from ticket sales,” the station’s Manager Shahadat Hossain told the media on Wednesday. “As all the trains were suspended yesterday [Tuesday], the passengers had to be refunded their tickets, leading to losses for the railway.”
Every day, 42 pairs of inter-city trains and 25 pairs of local, mail, and commuter trains use Kamalapur Railway Station.
The railway running staff began a work stoppage at 12am on Tuesday to demand that their running allowance be added to their wages when calculating pensions and gratuity. The stoppage brought all train services to a halt across the country.
Under the unprecedented circumstances, passengers faced trouble as their trips were cancelled. The railway then offered to refund the passengers' tickets.
Despite holding meetings throughout the day on Tuesday to convince the railway workers to return to work, senior officials – including the secretary of the railway ministry and the acting director general of Bangladesh Railways – could not reach a compromise. The issue stalled as Mojibur Rahman, the leader of the running staff, could not be found.
Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas, special assistant to the BNP chairperson and Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal coordinator, also joined the effort but could not come up with a solution.
Finally, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, after a meeting at the residence of Railway Advisor Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan on Dhaka’s Minto Road, Mojibur, the general secretary of the Bangladesh Railway Running Staff and Workers Employees Association, announced the withdrawal of the strike and the resumption of train services.
Following the meeting, Mojibur urged the running staff to return to work, saying that their demands would be addressed.
"The advisor has assured us that our issues will be resolved by [Wednesday]. A notification regarding the recruits after 2022 will be issued through the finance ministry.
"We do not want to cause public suffering. We apologise. The strike is now withdrawn.”
Through the media, he appealed to his colleagues: “Return to work. The advisor has assured us that we will continue to receive our previous benefits.”
Before Mojibur’s statement, Advisor Fouzul said: “I take responsibility and assure you that I will address this issue. The existing benefits will remain unchanged, and there will be no alterations to the previously provided facilities.”
Hasnat Abdullah, a convener of the Anti-discrimination Student Movement, also took part in the meeting.
The railway running staff, including guards, loco masters, assistant loco masters, sub loco masters, and travel ticket examiners, are directly involved in running trains.
More than 1,700 running staff work on providing rail service across the country.
On average, running staff need to work for 15-18 hours each day. Previously, they used to get special financial benefits for the extended hours, which was called mileage. This mileage was part of their salary.
The running staff used to get an additional amount equivalent to their one-day basic salary for each 100 km distance their trains covered.
If a work day is considered to be eight hours, the work done by running staff in a month becomes equivalent to 2.5 or 3 months for other workers.
Their salary was calculated accordingly.
In addition, they used to get pensions with an additional 75 percent of their basic salary.
In 2022, the Ministry of Finance scrapped all these benefits for the running staff. Since then, the Bangladesh Railway Running Staff and Workers Employees Association has been staging regular protests.
On Jan 22, the running staff held a press briefing in Chattogram and announced a work stoppage from Jan 28.
