‘Reasonable demands’ of rail workers have already been accepted, says finance adviser

Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed says that the “reasonable demands” made by protesting railway workers have already been accepted.

The finance adviser expressed doubts about the government's current ability to meet the additional demands which the Railway Running Staff and Workers Employees Association made going into the strike.

Salehuddin said, "The Ministry of Finance has accepted the reasonable demands of the railway workers regarding overtime. We have accepted their reasonable demands several days ago and given them. Why they are still continuing their protest is their own business.”

"Everyone will have multiple demands. They say we have to pay this, that we have to pay overtime allowance. We have given as much as we could according to our resources."

The finance adviser made the remarks when asked by the media about the ongoing work stoppage by railway employees after a meeting of the advisory committee on government procurement and economic affairs on Tuesday.

The Bangladesh Railway Running Staff and Workers Employees Association has gone on strike because their demands for pension and gratuity, in addition to the basic salary, were not met. As a result, train services across the country have been suspended.

Due to the strike, no trains left Dhaka's Kamalapur station after midnight on Monday, according to Kamalapur Station Master Md Anwar Hossain.

In the morning, Railways Advisor Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan said the ministry has done its part to meet the demands of the protesters and the matter is “in the hands” of the Finance Department.

Highlighting the government's ongoing financial crisis, the Finance Advisor Salehuddin said: "I think we have given as much as was rational. Now if they say we have to pay everything together, now we have to balance our finances. I have managed to bring it to a fairly stable level even though we had to borrow from overseas.”

"The finance ministry usually does not prohibit any reasonable demands. Especially for humanitarian reasons. And if people's jobs are in trouble, we try our best."

Regarding the demands of the running staff, he said, "Others have the same demands. If I say in the case of the railways that I will see to their needs, that makes things difficult. We have resolved the issue of overtime in the railways. A circular was issued 10-12 days ago. Now if they say that pension, gratuity, etc have to be added - there are many more demands from other government agencies similar to this."

In response to a question about the dearness allowance of government employees, the financial adviser said that the government has not taken any decision on the issue yet.

"It is not correct to say that the government has backed down from the decision even after the announcement. Who made the announcement? We have not made any announcement yet."

Meanwhile, Md Afzal Hossain, general secretary of the Railway Guards Council Central Committee, told bdnews24.com that they will continue the programme until their demands are met.

"Our programme ongoing. It will continue until the higher authorities resolve our problems."

The Railway Running Staff and Workers Employees Association has also reiterated that the 'strike' will continue.