NewsClick

NewsClick
  • हिन्दी
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Covid-19
  • Science
  • Culture
  • India
  • International
  • Sports
  • Articles
  • Videos
search
menu

INTERACTIVE ELECTION MAPS

image/svg+xml
  • All Articles
  • Newsclick Articles
  • All Videos
  • Newsclick Videos
  • हिन्दी
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Science
  • Culture
  • India
  • Sports
  • International
  • Africa
  • Latin America
  • Palestine
  • Nepal
  • Pakistan
  • Sri Lanka
  • US
  • West Asia
About us
Subscribe
Follow us Facebook - Newsclick Twitter - Newsclick RSS - Newsclick
close menu
×
For latest updates on nCOVID-19 around the world visit our INTERACTIVE COVID MAP
Protests & Movements
Politics
India

CITU Holds Two-day National Protest Against Railways Privatisation

Railways workers' unions are planning an indefinite strike on the 109 train routes under consideration to be opened for private players.
Prudhviraj Rupavath
16 Jul 2020
CITU Holds Two-day National Protest Against Railways Privatisation

Demanding that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) central government rescind its plans to privatise Indian Railways, Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), joined by railways employees and other mass organisations, started their two-day national protest across states on Thursday. 

In opposition to the Railway Ministry’s exercise for a competitive bidding process for selecting private entities for operating passenger train services at over 109 pairs of stations, in the last two weeks, hundreds of decentralised protest demonstrations have been organised across railway stations by railways’ employees, workers and trade unions in spite of restrictions on mobilisations due to the pandemic. 

Opposition parties including Congress, CPI(M), CPI, and other Left parties, Trinamool Congress and DMK have outrightly denounced the privatisation move on multiple grounds. 

protest

Railways Ministry has been claiming that private participation through this move would raise about Rs 30,000 crore, which would be used for the modernisation of the national transporter and would generate employment. On the other hand, railways’ unions and trade unions are arguing that the move will only add losses to the railways.

“The government claims of Rs 30,000 crore investment and employment generation have no meaning as the drainage due to the loss of revenue to the Indian Railways in these revenue-generating routes and high-speed trains will more than neutralise the said hypothetical figure,” points out Tapan sen, general secretary, CITU. 

Sen says that the employment lost due to privatisation of production units, the jewels of Indian Railways, in the railway workshops, and in the maintenance units will be many times more than the employment created by the private players. “Most of the jobs that will be created will be precarious jobs, not permanent jobs with decent wages and social security.” 

All India Railwaymen’s Federation (AIRF), the largest recognised trade union in the national transporter, and even the RSS affiliate trade union Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh have earlier demanded that the government take steps to cancel the proposal to privatise 109 routes. AIRF has urged the railway board to cancel the bidding process threatening with an indefinite strike, while BMS has observed a week-long protest demonstration across a handful of states.

“The two-day protest will be followed by a joint meeting of all central trade unions to decide upon the future course of action of the trade union movements on the privatisation of railways and other anti-people policies of the BJP government,” said AR Sindhu of CITU. 

On Thursday morning, CITU national leadership joined a protest demonstration in front of the Rail Bhavan’ in New Delhi. 

citu

The South Central Railway Mazdoor Union (SCRMU) affiliated to AIRF held protest rallies across Telugu states last week opposing privatisation while claiming to go for an indefinite strike against the government’s privatisation push. The union is planning an indefinite strike on the 109 train routes to be opened for private players.

Dakshin Railway Employees Union (DREU), affiliated to CITU, has organised protests in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In Telugu states, CITU and affiliated mass organisations have joined the protests at railway stations. 

In West Bengal, the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) held protest demonstrations across districts against privatisation and the closure of vacant posts in the railways. 

The last major strike by railway employees and workers that continued for three weeks from May 8-28, 1974, under the aegis of AIRF, was considered one of the major railway strikes in Asia.

Also read: India Dropped from Chabahar Rail Project, Experts Cite Iran-China Proximity

Get the latest reports & analysis with people's perspective on Protests, movements & deep analytical videos, discussions of the current affairs in your Telegram app. Subscribe to NewsClick's Telegram channel & get Real-Time updates on stories, as they get published on our website.
Railways Privatisation
CITU
AIRF
Indian Railways
SCRMU
National Protest
DREU
CPIM
Related Stories
Bharan bandh andhra

Bharat Bandh: Traders, Merchants Shut Shops, Transport Workers Off Roads in Telangana and Andhra

durgapur

In Durgapur Steel City, Workers Fight to Save Strategic Assets’ Sale Despite Attack on Unions

cpim delhi

CPI(M) Protests Against Modi-Government's ‘Anti-People’ Policies

Daily25022021

Youth Demands Employment from the Government, COVID-19 Updates and more

Yechury Hits Out at Govt Over Hike in Fares of Short Distance Trains

TN transport

Tamil Nadu Transport Workers Begin Indefinite Strike After Talks on Wage Revision Fail

Delhi riots 1 year

Delhi Riots: No Justice, a Year Later

Delhi Riots One Year

Delhi Riots: One Year Later, Injustice Continues

Bihar: Opposition Mahagathbandhan Continues Protest against Farm Laws and Rising Prices

Bihar: Opposition Mahagathbandhan Continues Protest against Farm Laws and Rising Prices

TN this Week: Election Campaigns in Full-Swing, Brutal Police Attack on Protestors, Four Manual Scavenging Deaths

TN this Week: Election Campaigns in Full-Swing, Brutal Police Attack on Protestors, Four Manual Scavenging Deaths

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on WhatsAppShare via EmailShare on RedditShare on KindlePrint
Share
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on WhatsAppShare via EmailShare on RedditShare on KindlePrint
Share

Related Stories

Aritry Das

‘Wind is Changing’: People at Massive Brigade Rally Upbeat About Left-Congress-ISF Alliance in Bengal

02 March 2021
Kolkata: Well over 10 lakh people from across West Bengal poured into the Brigade Parade ground on Sunday, February 28, in respons
Ravi Kaushal

Protest Sites at Delhi’s Borders See Farmers, Workers Unite to Fight Farm Laws

27 February 2021
New Delhi: The agitating farmers staging their protest against the farm laws on the entry gates of the national capital observed  Kisan Mazdoor Ekt
Ronak Chhabra

Sangharsh Rally to Ekta Diwas: A Look at Workers-Farmers Alliance

27 February 2021
Three years ago, in September 2018, a joint demonstration of workers and farmers was held in the national capital for the first time – not merely t

Pagination

  • Next page ››

More

  • kerala

    Motor Vehicle Strike in Kerala Against Spiralling Fuel Prices

  • Delhi Riots

    Delhi Riots: ‘Presumption Can’t be Stretched to Take Shape of Proof,’ Court Discharges Two from Attempt to Murder

  • Heat wave India

    IMD: Above Normal Summer Temperatures Likely across Country Except South, Central India

  • Parthodas gupta

    TRP Scam: Bombay HC Grants Bail to BARC’s ex-CEO Partho Dasgupta

  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with
about