The Central Railway (CR) trade unions are threatening to hold commuters to ransom again by implementing the ‘work to rule’ concept on the suburban network, which could affect the frequency of local trains.
Following an FIR by the Government Railway Police (GRP) against two trade union members of the Central Railway Mazdoor Sangh (CRMS) — Sanjeev Dubey and Vivek Sisodia — for the major disruption of local trains last week which led to mass chaos and deaths, the CRMS has now put up boards in the CSMT lobby, again holding Mumbai railway passengers to ransom through the ‘work to rule’ protest. A work to rule protest would mean that the number of suburban services would be curtailed.
“The cases against our members are incorrect. We were protesting against the VJTI report, which is incorrect. We are being targeted unnecessarily,” a CRMS member said. Railway officials said that the administration does not have anything to do with this, as the union protest in the CSMT lobby was illegal and permissions had been given only for the protest outside the DRM office, which had been concluded.
The cases have been filed by the police for the illegal protest in the CSMT lobby after the official protest had concluded. The trade union members reportedly blocked the entry-exit gates of the motormen’s lobby, which led to the complete detention of suburban trains between 5.50 pm to 6.45 pm, during peak rush hours, leading to mass chaos at every station and also resulting in the deaths of passengers who were forced to jump off trains that had halted at the same stop for a long time. CRMS President Praveen Bajpai did not respond to messages.
Mumbra: Bail plea rejected
The Thane court on Wednesday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of the two railway engineers accused in the Mumbra tragedy. The engineers are now expected to approach the Bombay High Court for relief. A case was registered on November 1 against Assistant Divisional Engineer Vishal Dolas, Senior Section Engineer Samar Yadav, and other railway officers and employees who were responsibile for track maintenance.
