Reduction on North-Western Railway

THE reductions hitherto made on the North-Western Railway are chiefly on the running staff who are without work by reasons of the general slackness in the goods and passenger traffic. In normal times Karachi alone contributes nearly half the total income derived from goods traffic by the North-Western Railway. But there is this thing to be said. Under the existing rules the services of permanent employees can be terminated only on giving them a month's previous notice or a month's pay in lieu of notice. There is some complaint that this rule has not been acted upon in every case and that there are instances of employees having been put on compulsory leave without any notice. It is possible that the Railway administration is acting according to the letter of the law and the men concerned are not all permanent hands. But it should also take into consideration the suffering that such an action causes to the family of the men earning small wages, especially now when atta is selling at 7 seers per rupee.