- ST workers who are on strike request to the District Magistrate
Akola: For more than a month, ST employees’ strike has started demanding the merger of ST Mahamandal with the government. Due to which the ST Mahamandal is suffering crores of rupees financial loss. As a result, the administration has so far suspended about 70 employees of both the depots of Akola city.
Despite this, the ST employees’ strike is still going on. Meanwhile, due to continuous action, the concerned officers will be held accountable in case of any undue incident, this indication has been given in the request given by the striking ST workers to the District Magistrate.
After the ST workers’ agitation started, the Transport Minister announced an increase in the salary of the employees. But even after that the strike continues. The employees involved in the agitation said that they would continue their strike till the merger with the state government. The agitation of ST employees is going on at both depot number one and depot number two. Similarly, ST employees are also protesting near the divisional office. So far none of the employees of these two depots have returned to work.
The ST workers who are on strike said that all the workers are involved in the strike. If ST employees are not returning to work, then ST Mahamandal is taking action like suspension and dismissal. ST personnel have met the District Magistrate and District Superintendent of Police and made a request. It has been said in this request that so far 50 ST employees of the state have committed suicides. As a result, ST workers are going through mental stress.
While the matter is pending in the Mumbai High Court and no decision has been taken yet, the authorities are still taking suspension and transfer proceedings against the ST personnel. Therefore, if the Mahamandal will be responsible for any untoward incident arising out of such action, the ST personnel have given this indication in the request given to the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police. A copy of this request has also been handed over to the department controller of ST.
Only three mechanical staff personnel returned to work
According to the strike workers, 38 employees of depot number one and 32 employees of depot number two have been suspended. So far none of the employees has returned to work. Everyone is taking part in the strike. It has been learned that only three mechanical staff personnel, who were doing repair work in the workshop located in depot number one, have returned to work to do the repair work.
There are about 23 workers’ organizations in ST Mahamandal. Although no organization has officially supported the strike, representatives of all the organizations are participating in the strike as workers. The ST workers had started the strike unintentionally, demanding the merger of the ST corporation with the government, their demand is the same, that the corporation should be merged in the government.