Report by Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC) Correspondent
The first biennial general meeting (BGM) of All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA) of Sholapur Zone was successfully held at Sholapur on 3rd August .The meeting was organised by the Sholapur committee of AILRSA led by Divisional President Comrade SJ Nigade and Divisional Secretary Comrade Pintu Roy.
The meeting hall decorated with red flags was filled with loco pilots and their family members. The hall resounded with slogans of Workers’ Unity Zindabad!
The meeting was addressed by All India Secretary General of AILRSA Comrade KC James, Jt. Secretary General Comrade MP Deo, General Secretary CR Comrade DS Koparkar, Zonal President CR Sunil More, Jt. Zonal Secretary CR Comrade MK Tripathi, and Divisional President Mumbai Com. Bharadwaj.
The Secretary’s report was read out. The report mentioned the agitations they had organized, including their successful agitation for revoking the unjust suspension of a loco pilot.
In their speeches, all the leaders pointed out that they should fight for their rights and praised the victory achieved, especially the revocation of the worker’s suspension. The speakers also said that they should fight for pension and other demands. As regards long duty hours, the speakers pointed out that workers do not get enough time to spend with their families. The speakers said that they should fight to work only for 8 hours and demand immediate filling up of all vacancies.
Comrade James announced that AILRSA will celebrate the 50th year of the historic 1974 railway strike by holding meetings this year.
Comrade D Ramesh, General Council member of CITU Maharashtra, Ram Naresh Paswan, National President of All India Railway Trackmaintainers Union, and Comrade AJ Singh, Zonal President (Sholapur) of All India Guards Council, in their speeches appreciated the work being done by AILRSA and declared that their organizations will always stand shoulder to shoulder with loco pilots.
Comrade Das, Jt. Secretary of Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC), explained that KEC has always actively supported loco pilots and AILRSA. Their fight is for justice, he declared. He pointed out that over the last many decades, political parties in power in the Central Government have changed but the living and working conditions of workers of the country have continued to deteriorate. He explained the necessity of understanding who really rules our country. It is not this or that political party but the capitalist class which rules, he explained. Workers across all sectors of the economy need to unite with all the toilers of our country and fight not only for their just demands but to seize the power of our country from the hands of the capitalists, he said.
Enthused by the fighting spirit of the meeting, workers and their family members organized a procession which marched in Sholapur city. The participants in the procession militantly gave many slogans highlighting workers’ unity.
