Over eleven lakh Railway employees will get productivity linked bonus (PLB), the Union Cabinet decided on Thursday. It also approved the second phase of Chennai metro.
“The Cabinet has approved payment of PLB of 78 days for ₹2,028.57 crore to 11,72,240 railway employees,” Information & Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a press conference. The amount will be paid to various categories of Railway staff — Track maintainers, Loco Pilots, Train Managers (Guards), Station Masters, Supervisors, Technicians, Technician Helpers, Pointsman, Ministerial staff and other Group XC staff.
“The payment of PLB acts as an incentive to motivate the railway employees for working towards improvement in the performance of the Railways,” he said.
In another decision, the Cabinet approved the second phase of Chennai Metro Rail Project comprising three corridors — Madhavaram to SIPCOT, Light House to Poonamallee Bypass and Madhavaram to Sholinganallur. “Phase II will comprise 120 stations with new lines of 118.9 km enabling total Metro Rail Network of 173 km,” Vaishnaw said. The second phase will cost over ₹63,000 crore and is planned to be completed by 2027.
Once Phase-II is fully operational, the Chennai city will have a total Metro Rail network of 173 km. The proposed phase connects North to South and East to the West of Chennai passing through the major influence areas at Madhavaram, Perambur, Thirumayilai, Adyar, Sholinganallur, SIPCOT, Kodambakkam, Vadapalani, Porur, Villivakkam, Anna Nagar, St. Thomas Mount connecting large number of industrial, commercial, residential and institutional establishments and also provides effective Public Transport for the work force engaged in these clusters and connectivity to various parts of the city. It will extend connectivity to rapidly growing areas like Sholinganallur, which serves as a hub for the south Chennai IT corridor.
With the addition of Phase-II Metro Rail Project and increase in overall Metro Rail Network in Chennai city, can significantly reduce carbon emissions compared to traditional fossil fuel-based transport, the Minister added.
The Cabinet also approved to confer the status of Classical Language to Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bangla. “The inclusion of languages as Classical Language will create significant employment opportunities, particularly in academic and research fields. Additionally, the preservation, documentation, and digitization of ancient texts of these languages will generate jobs in archiving, translation, publishing, and digital media,” a government statement said.