B group status to rly engineers hailed

Secunderabad: Railway Engineers Association expressed happiness over the Balachandra Aiyer committee’s recommendation to grant B group status to senior section railway engineers and employees of equivalent status. The committee released its recommendations on Tuesday. Hailing the recommendation, South Central Railway Engineers Association president Sriyuvathulu Kumar termed this recommendation as a first great step towards resolving the issues related to railway engineers. He urged the government to grant a Gazetted officer status to engineers, which was their main demand. Kumar appealed that granting non-gazetted officer status would be of no use to railway board or railway engineers. He also said that the government can save an estimated cost of Rs 500 crore by giving gazette officer status as engineers need not be given bonus, incentives, night allowances and other allowances. The association leaders demanded the government to give Gazetted officer status to railway engineers as it would be of great benefit to them.