New Delhi: The employees of the Central government will now be able to travel on premium trains Tejas, Vande Bharat and Humsafar Express under the Leave Travel Concession (LTC) scheme. As per a letter, which was accessed by ETV Bharat, the decision was taken by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Personnel and Training after receiving several references from different offices and individuals about the admissibility of various premium trains.
As per the new office order, the rules were examined by DoPT in consultation with the Department of Expenditure and it has been decided that apart from existing Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains, travel by Tejas Express, Vande Bharat Express and Humsafar Express trains under LTC as per employee’s travel entitlement.
Discussing the new facility, Shashikant Tripathi, Chief Public Relations Officer, North Central Railway told ETV Bharat, “It is a nice move, which will provide the additional option of trains during availing LTC. Although, I am not aware of how many members of a family will be allowed to travel in a LTC.”
Some railway employees informed ETV Bharat that they are allowed two persons in a privileged travel pass. If they want to travel with more family members like husband, wife and two children then employees have to use two privilege passes. However, LTC rules are slightly different.
The employee will be allowed to travel in premium trains under the pay level in the pay matrix as per the 7th Central Pay Commission.
Talking on the LTC issue, Alok Chandra Prakash, General Secretary, of the Indian Railways Signal and Telecommunication Maintainers’ Union, told ETV Bharat, “It is a good step of the government, which will benefit the Central government servants to have authority to travel in AC coaches of Tejas, Vande Bharat and Humsafar Express, especially for employees having pay level below level 5. It is the first time that staff with a pay level below 5 will travel with their family in such special trains.”
What is LTC: According to DoPT, the Leave Travel Concession scheme is a concessional travel facility for government employees to visit their hometown or to visit any place in India during a block of four years. In terms of provisions of the Scheme, the government employees have the option either to avail of Home town LTC twice in a block of two years each or to visit their home town once in a period of two years and to visit any place in India in another block of two years. The current block of four years is 2022-2025 with two years block of 2022-2023 and 2024-2025.
Instructions for LTC: Various instructions regarding Leave Travel Concession have been issued by the government from time to time. The instructions still in vogue have been consolidated under easily comprehensible headings for the facility of reference. All Ministries/Departments are requested to bring the above guidelines to the notice of all concerned, the DoPT said.
Carryover of LTC (Rule 10): A government servant and members of his family availing of LTC may travel in different groups at different times during a block of two or four years, as the case may be. The concession so availed of will be counted against the block of two years or four years within which the outward journey commenced, even if the return journey was performed after the expiry of the block of two years or four years. This will apply to availing of leave travel concession carried forward in terms of Rule 10, as per DoPT.
Eligible in trains under new order: As per the new office order, the Central government employees will be able to travel on additional premium trains like Tejas Express, Vande Bharat Express and Humsafar Express under LTC as per the entitlement of the government servants. Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto trains are already covered under LTC previously.
