An elated Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for addressing grievances of railway employees in the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations which the government approved on Thursday.

"I thank Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on behalf of the railway family for removing the grievances of the railway employees," Yadav said after the Union Cabinet approved the recommendations.

He said there were 'anomalies' in the pay commission recommendations which were removed satisfactorily.

"Railway is the lifeline of the country and I am happy that our employees will be benefited," he said.

Yadav said the wage hike would increase the financial implication for the Railways by 4,654 crore (Rs 46.54 billion) annually and the arrears would cost it Rs 9,250 crore (Rs 92.5 billion).

The Centre on Thursday announced an average increase of 21 per cent in salaries of over 50 lakh government employees with effect from January 1, 2006, accepting the Pay Commission recommendations.

The railway minister said grievances of the armed forces, para-military forces and other departments were also addressed satisfactorily.

"The government addressed grievances of all the employees including para-military, armed forces and other employees," he said.

• All about the 6th Pay Commission report