Stir called off after suspension of a colleague was revoked.
Government employees manning essential services like the suburban system once again showed how they could easily bring the city to its knees.
Angered at the suspension of one of their colleagues for manhandling and slapping a senior Central Railway official, motormen went on a flash strike between 6.35pm and 7.14pm. The strike was called off after the authorities revoked the motorman’s suspension.
The strike saw CST become a sea of humanity and the crowds flowing on to DN Road on the western fringe of CST. The crowds jammed traffic on the road as hundreds of people spilled to the roads to board buses and catch taxis. Buses were packed and taxis were almost being mobbed by passengers on DN road. Forty-four locals were cancelled and five trains terminated midway till 9pm.
On Tuesday, motorman Vivek Sisodiya was suspended by Central Railway divisional railway manager Mukesh Nigam after he slapped assistant commercial manager in charge of reservation Shashidhar Tripathi. A preliminary inquiry found Sisodiya guilty and he was suspended on Thursday. Tripathi had recently tightened the screws on ticket counter clerks who do not show up for work on the pretext of being busy with railway union function.
This had led to a face-off between Tripathi and the CR authorities and the union led by the Central Railway Mazdoor Sangh. A meeting between the union and Tripathi on Tuesday turned ugly after Sisodiya, who was part of the union group, allegedly slapped Tripathi. Unions, however, denied that Sisodiya hit Tripathi.
This enraged CR officials who boycotted the Permanent Negotiating Mechanism, a mandatory meeting between unions and the bureaucracy to settle issues. The strike was called off around 7.10pm and the first train left platform number 2 of CST after Nigam revoked Sisodiya’s suspension.
An official said that since the motormen decided to strike around 6.30pm there was little chance that the authorities could have taken a tough stand. “We are vulnerable in peak hour starts because stations along the route start getting crowded and there is frustration among passengers,” said a senior official.
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