Nagercoil: In response to the call given by the All India Loco Running Staff Association, around 20 loco pilots from the district unit participated in a fast observed in front of the railway station at Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday.
According to the president of the district unit, R.S. Anil, the association was forced to take this extreme step, in protest against the apathy shown by the Ministry of Railways towards their four-point charter of demands, including cancellation of orders asking loco pilots to work for 13 hours and reduce the duty hours to eight hours, appoint judicial committee to review the working conditions; calculate their allowance with the TA rate of Rs.340 instead of the arbitrary amount of Rs210; to increase the pay on a par with the responsibility attached to the post of assistant loco pilot and not treat them on a par with the lowest post in the Central government service and differentiate the pay to loco pilots manning good trains, passenger trains and super fast or high speed express trains.
He also said that the ‘Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railway Safety’ rightly pointed out the adamant attitude of the Railway Board in not heeding the Government policy and recommended not to extract work from loco pilots for more than eight hours to ensure safety of the travelling public..
Press report by The Hindu
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