Report received from Shri J.N. Shah, Central Vice President, All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA)
Against privatisation, corporatisation, Unified Pension Scheme in railways, increasing the rate of kilometre allowance in proportion to the increase in TA, making duty hours maximum six hours in mail express trains and maximum eight hours in goods trains, giving risk allowance to assistant loco pilots as well, returning to head- quarters within thirty-six hours, filling up vacant posts soon, making proper arrangements for women running staff on duty and protesting against the railway administration’s reluctance in supporting their other demands, on the call of All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA) Northeast Railway, Dharna and Hunger Fast were held on 20, 21 February at lobbies across the country. All the loco pilots operated the trains by staying hungry and submitted an 18-point memorandum to the Railway Board through DRM.
This Fast received full cooperation and support from all the railway employees, including the Electricity department union “All India Power Employees Federation”, Disha Student Association, Bank Employees Federation, Khet Mazdoor Union.
This struggle will continue till the demands are accepted. It was reported that many loco pilots were unwell due to operating trains on an empty stomach.
In this two-day movement, a discussion and cultural program based on working class ideology was also held in the evening, which was thoroughly enjoyed by the comrades present. In the discussion, there was a serious ideological discussion on the situation of unions in other organizations including the unions working inside the railways, in which the main agenda of the discussion was that why no strong decisive movement is being raised against the continuous privatization, contracting, corruption, wasteful expenditure, arbitrariness, misleading New Pension Scheme in the railways today. The comrades of category associations like AILRSA are also going on dharna, demonstration, thirty-six to forty-eight hour hunger fast for their demands, but why is there no sensitivity or courage left in other unions of the railways regarding their rights. Why is the working class turning away from this ground reality of its strength and lack of class consciousness? Is the lack of consciousness of the leadership, lack of class commitment and the consequent pessimism in the entire organization the reason for this? Why is no movement being raised on the ever-increasing working hours, multiskilling, long distance links, safety and security issues like four night duty, 72 hours outstation etc.? What does today’s young employee think about the roots and root causes of these serious problems?
The views expressed by the comrades who participated in the discussion basically reflected that today’s young railway employee has a very casual approach towards the ideology of the working class. He is technically not at all aware of the rights achieved through the glorious legacy of his historical struggle and his present and future workload. Many comrades also expressed surprise on whether this would be possible in today’s situation, because today’s material conditions have changed a lot.
Taking the discussion forward on this, the leading comrades told that our opposition class itself took a very good lesson from our historical struggle and technological development and made a lot of changes in its program, due to which we, the workers of the organized sector, have become proud of our achievements, got trapped in the trap laid by capital, forgot our historical responsibility and have adopted an individualistic character. Instead of dealing with the bitter problems of caste, religion, high and low, rich and poor prevalent in the society and planning to end them, the working class got entangled in the web of salary and allowances and today, taking advantage of this, the owner class is consciously cutting off all those rights again for which our comrades have sacrificed their lives in history.
Some comrades from ordinary background expressed serious apprehensions about the future and expressed the need for reading, teaching and organizing workshops to understand and preserve things, to which the leading comrades agreed and assured to prepare an action plan and implement it. In the program, a booklet jointly published by 46 organizations including AILRSA in protest against smart meters was also distributed.
Thus, this two-day hunger fast of All India Loco Running Staff Association Northeast Railway was quite successful.
Regional President of AILRSA NER J N Shah, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Dr. Ambedkar Manch comrade Manoj, Secretary Brajesh Kumar, Joint Secretary Indrajit, Regional Joint Secretary Shiv Pujan Verma, Vivek Shukla, Anil Kumar, Rajkumar Rai, Sujit Kumar etc. played an important role in the discussion.
