7th Pay Commission: Railways Employees obersves Hunger Strike

New Delhi, May 09: The Railway employees' union's 72-hour relay hunger strike against non-implementation of the provisions of the 7th Pay Commission entered the second day on Wednesday.

The union said it had requested the government for improvement in minimum pay and fitment factor after implementation of 7th Pay Commission recommendations, provision of guaranteed pension and family pension to all employees covered by the National Pension Scheme (NPS), irrespective of their date of appointment.

Union members raised slogans against the Central government and alleged that no concrete measures were initiated despite repeated requests to the government to hike their minimum pay and provision of guaranteed pension and family pension to all employees covered under the National Pension Scheme (NPS), irrespective of their date of appointment.

The members of All India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF) started the hunger strike from 9am on Tuesday, holding placards and shouting slogans.

A leader said,"Despite several meetings of leaders of the All-India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF) with Union ministers, no decision has been taken in this regard. So, we are now observing three-day hunger strike."

"We are against privatization of railways and wanted to stop the outsourcing of work," said one of the protesting employees.

Moreover, the government is recruiting more employees on a contractual basis, which is leading India's biggest transport network into wholesale privatization, he added.

However, Railway top officers said they would not let the work suffer due to the strike.