Coal minister to seek Rs 550cr aid for arrears

Our Economic Bureau

Kolkata, April 26 : UNION coal minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain will be seeking budgetary support of Rs 550 crore to clear the arrear salaries of the 18,000-odd officers of Coal India Ltd.

A delegation from the Coal India Officers’ Association met Mr Hussain on April 25. The minister assured them that he will take up the arrears issue. While Coal India has already adopted the pay hike suggested in the 5th pay commission report, arrears since January 1996 are yet to be cleared.

The mass transfers of officers were taken up with the minister by the delegates, who included CIOA general secretary Ashok Banerjee and deputy general secretary AR Gooptu.

Recently, Coal India transferred 595-odd management cadre officers who form about 25 per cent of the total employees in the management cadre. The association had written to the minister expressing its concern and pointing out that the policies should be transparent and uniform.

The association members told The Financial Express that Mr Hussain maintains that Coal India will have to stick to its transfer policy. The minister has also assured the officers that he will discuss with the management the question of providing a check-off facility, which enables recognised unions to collect fees from their members via a payroll deduction.