Railway workers have called off a nationwide strike after receiving assurances from the government over the restoration of an overtime allowance.
No train left any station between 6:00 am and 12:00 pm on Wednesday as a result of the strike, causing untold suffering to travellers, reports bdnews24.com.
Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan subsequently sat down with the protestors in a bid to resolve the issue.
"For a long time, they'd been receiving a running allowance which was added to their pension. The finance ministry halted the benefit through a notice," he said after the meeting.
"I am openly announcing that the notice against which the running staff members are protesting will be nullified. The notice issued on April 10 is null and void. Also, we'll discuss the issue of adding the allowance to their pension. We hope to reach a solution soon."
The minister also promised to raise the issue in a meeting with the prime minister on April 19.
"They'll receive all benefits like before. Eid is approaching and the railways are used by 160 million people."
Speaking after the meeting, Md Sayeedur Rahman, joint secretary of Bangladesh Railway Running Staff and Workers Association, said the minister had urged workers to be patient.
"We spoke to our leaders and we'll go back to our respective duties now."
Railway employees who are involved in regular train operations, such as loco masters or train drivers, assistant drivers, train guards and ticket inspectors (TTs), are known as the running staff. At present, Bangladesh Railway has 1,013 running staff.
In addition to their designated duties, these workers were previously entitled to an amount equal to a day's salary for working more than eight hours a day or operating a train for more than 100 miles as running or mileage allowance. Upon retirement, 75 per cent of the allowance would be added to their pensions.
They had been receiving the special allowance for more than 150 years, according to Asim Kumar Talukder, General Manager of Bangladesh Railway's West Zone.
But after switching to the 'iBAS' accounting system, the government decided to scrap the facility last year due to the technical limitations of the software.
