The non-executive staff of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Saturday threatened “total shutdown” of metro operations on Monday if their demands, including pay hike, are not heeded by the management. Reacting to the offensive posture of the agitating employees the DMRC on Saturday said it is trying to resolve the issue “internally” through “discussion”. The DMRC stressed that it will ensure the commuters are not inconvenienced in any manner due to the strike threat.
“The issues raised are being addressed at the highest level in our organisation and we are keen to ensure that the public is not inconvenienced in any way,” DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal told The Pioneer.
Dayal said an “internal dialogue” is going on all the issues being raised by the employees.
Delhi Metro’s non-executive staff — train operators, maintenance staff, station controllers and customer relation assistants — launched their protest on Friday.
The protesting staff, wearing black bands, gathered at metro stations across Delhi-NCR during their work shifts and raised slogans against the DMRC management. They also alleged financial irregularities in the corporation.
Staff council secretary Anil Kumar Mahato, who is leading the protest, said, “There was no large-scale disruption in services” on Saturday, but threatened to escalate the agitation and enforce a “total shutdown” on Monday if the DMRC does not pay heed to their “long pending” demands, including cancellation of action initiated against him and his colleague Ravi Bhardwaj.
The DMRC management had called the staff council members for a meeting but they did not turn up and instead demanded that the authorities should approach them. On being asked whether the staffers had turned up for discussion, the DMRC spokesperson refused to comment, but added talks are “going on internally.”
The protest demonstrations were held at several stations, including Dwarka, Badarpur, Yamuna Bank, Jahangirpuri, Vishwavidyalaya, Qutub Minar, Shahdara.