The efforts and threat of the National Federation of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR) to bring the entire railways to a standstill bore fruit after the Union government announced the setting up of the 7th pay commission on Wednesday. The NFIR has said that the implementation of the commission’s recommendations will directly benefit 12 lakh railway employees. Following the announcement, railway employees have announced the withdrawal of the proposed strike, which was planned for early 2014. NFIR, which is the largest body of railway employees, has said that its major demand was the setting up of the Seventh Pay Commission, and since the Centre has acceded
to it, directly benefitting 12 lakh railway employees, it had decided to cancel it proposed agitation.
J.G. Mahurkar, vice-president of NFIR, said, “We appreciate this decision, which will ultimately result into a win-win situation for not only the employees, but the entire Indian Railways.” Divisional secretary of Western Railway Maz-door Sangh Ajay Singh has also welcomed the development and said that the body had planned to support the agitation, but since the government has addressed their basic demand, they had withdrawn the decision. The NFIR had taken up the issue aggressively with all authorities including Railway Board, ministry, etc. The NFIR had set a four-month deadline for the rail ministry and Central government.