M A I N   N E W S

Mumbai motormen back on track
Call off day-old strike after assurance on salary hike
Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service

Mumbai, May 4
Over a thousand motormen on Mumbai’s Western and Central railway suburban lines who went on strike from Monday morning to press for their demands for higher wages and better working conditions began returning to work this evening after receiving an assurance from the Maharashtra government.

The strike was called off but not before a day full of drama that witnessed imposition of the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), dismissal of 10 motormen and the arrest of another 170 of them.

While the train services are likely to resume by late today evening after the scheduling formalities were over, normal services could be expected only by tomorrow morning, railway officials said.

The suburban services of both the Western and Central railways ply more than 3,000 services, with nearly 60 lakh people taking the trains daily to and from their work places. While the former connects downtown Churchgate with Virar, 'local' train services of the latter extend from the Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus till Karjat en route to Pune.

Importantly, the striking motormen did not enjoy the support of the recognised unions of the railways, which denounced the strike decision. However, Devendra Yadav, leader of the Joint Action Forum that called the strike, claimed that all the unions backed them.

According to Yadav, the forum was demanding higher salaries and filling up of vacancies by the railways. “Motormen have been forced to do over-time every day because there is a shortage of staff,” he said.

Security was another issue that the motormen did not forget to highlight, saying their men were often attacked and beaten up by the public if trespassers on the tracks were run over. Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil, who met the motormen, assured them of security apart from a crackdown on such attackers. Notably, thousands of office-goers had been left stranded post-Monday evening when motormen began reporting sick following a hunger strike since morning. However, train services were suddenly disrupted after 6 pm when motormen refused to ply trains en masse. With no public transport available at many places, people were seen camping on railway platforms.

Today, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan warned that the government would invoke the provisions of the Essential Services Maintenance Act under which striking workers can be arrested. Immediately afterwards, the railways dismissed 10 motormen, each from the Western and Central Railways for allegedly refusing to join duty. Another 170 of them were taken into custody by the police.

It was only late in the afternoon that negotiations with the motormen yielded results and they called off their strike. All the arrested motormen have been released and the railways has announced that those sacked would also be taken back.

Mamata hails decision
Subhrangshu Gupta/TNS

Kolkata, May 4
Hailing the motormen decision to call off their stir, Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee here today said she was happy that good sense finally prevailed over the strikers in Mumbai.

Mamata, who was busy finalising Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) strategy for the forthcoming civic body elections, said she was in touch with the Railway Board and had taken the required steps to tackle the “wildcat” strike by the motormen. She said she even spoke with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on the issue. The Railway Minister held that a section of the Mumbai motormen had paralysed train services for more salaries even as motormen all over the country were getting the same pay as had been recommended by the Sixth Finance Commission.

Also, Mamata has welcomed the decision by Congress’ state unit president Subrata Mukherjee to quit his party and join the TMC. Subrata told mediapersons that he would formally join the TMC tomorrow and a formal press conference would be held for the purpose at the residence of Mamata Banerjee.