The Central government has issued a new order allowing its employees to travel on Tejas, Vande Bharat, and Humsafar express trains under the Leave Travel Concession (LTC) scheme. This move aims to provide government employees with more convenient and faster travel options when visiting their hometowns or taking holidays to tourist destinations during their leave.
Under the updated order, employees are now eligible to travel on these premium trains, in addition to the previously covered Rajdhani, Shatabdi, and Duronto trains, depending on their travel entitlement. This decision follows numerous requests from government offices and employees, which were addressed by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
The DoPT collaborated with the Department of Expenditure to finalize the new rules before issuing the order. Central government employees can now receive reimbursement for their travel costs under the LTC scheme for round trips, based on their rank and pay scale. While premium trains like Rajdhani, Shatabdi, and Duronto were already covered under the scheme, the newer Tejas and Vande Bharat trains were previously excluded.
“The matter has been examined by this department in consultation with the Department of Expenditure, and it has been decided that travel by Tejas Express, Vande Bharat Express, and Humsafar Express trains under LTC, as per the entitlement of government employees, is now allowed,” the DoPT order states.
The LTC scheme provides government employees with reimbursement for travel to visit their hometown or any destination within India over a four-year block period. Employees can choose one of two options: they can either visit their hometown twice in a four-year period or visit their hometown once and travel to a holiday destination within the same period.
