Report of Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC) correspondent
To protest against the Railway Board’s order about re-engaging retired employees and to demand immediate recruitment, All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA) organized protests and gate meetings in all divisions across the country on 27 August. A meeting was also organized by the AILRSA Mumbai Division at the Kalyan Lobby. Loco pilots and assistant loco pilots attended the meeting despite it being the first day of Ganpati festival in Maharashtra.
At the outset, Shri H.B. Singh (Treasurer, AILRSA Mumbai Division) explained that the Railway Board has planned to re-engage retired employees in the LPS category. This decision of the Railway Board will create obstacles in new recruitment. He explained that last year, a circular was issued for the recruitment of 5,600 assistant loco pilot posts in the Railways. After AILRSA protested against the small number mentioned, the number of posts was increased to 19,000. This means that the Railway Board has been deliberately refusing to fill vacant posts. Recruitment of retired railway workers in the safety category will have an adverse effect on unemployed youth and will also create obstacles in the promotion of existing loco pilots; further, it will affect the service provided to passengers.
Shri R.K. Sharma (Secretary, AILRSA Mumbai Division) further explained that loco pilots and assistant loco pilots get very little time to rest. He said that normally, workers with permanent jobs get a total of 40 hours of rest after getting off work on Saturday, which includes 16 hours on Saturday and 24 hours on Sunday weekly leave. But today, loco pilots are barely being given only 30 hours of weekly rest. All this is happening because about 27% of the running staff posts in the Mumbai Division are vacant. This is affecting the health of loco pilots and assistant loco pilots and their family time. There are difficulties in getting their leaves approved. Therefore, it is important that vacant posts are filled only by young people. He further explained that we should be aware of our rights and do our duty as per established rules; just like Southern Railways loco pilots refused to do extra duty last year, we should also not do duty for more than 9 hours.
All loco pilots and assistant loco pilots spoke about their working conditions. A representative of Kamgar Ekta Committee congratulated AILRSA Mumbai Division for organizing the meeting. He explained that just like AILRSA, AIGC, and CRTU had jointly protested in Pune, we have to make efforts to unite with other railway categories in Mumbai and jointly work on the issue of vacancies.
At the end of the meeting, a letter (https://hindi.aifap.org.in/15235/) given by AILRSA Mumbai Division to the Mumbai Division Railway Manager was read out and signatures of other LPs and ALPs were taken on it.
Shri R.K. Sharma ji announced that a demonstration will be organized in front of the Mumbai DRM office on 9 September, and everyone welcomed this announcement. The meeting concluded with slogans of “AILRSA Zindabad! Mazdoor Ekta Zindabad!”