Following suicide by one of their colleagues Subhash Chandra Samad, Food Corporation of India (FCI) employees in the State went on indefinite strike demanding a CBI probe into the incident. They accused FCI general manager P Muthumaran and Ranchi Area Manager Brajesh Kumar of abetting suicide of Samad.
Workers at FCI godowns also suspended work in solidarity with their colleagues in the agitation. The strike by over 122 FCI members of staff has affected loading and unloading of foodgrain consignments from mills and producers from within and outside the State.
Family, friends and colleagues of Subhash laid siege to the offices of Ranchi District Collectorate with his mortal remains on Thursday morning, demanding that his suicide and involvement of his seniors should be investigated by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
A delegation also met Deputy Commissioner Manoj Kumar with a charter of demands for speedy justice, who, in turn, assured them of lawful action against culprits. "Although I cannot take action in matters of FCI, they came to meet me as the incident happened in the collectorate premises. They wanted the police to take swift action," stated the DC.
He had asked the agitators to wait at least for one month before going on strike, citing this to be the time needed to satisfactorily complete the investigation. The case is being supervised by Ranchi Senior Superintendent of Police Kuldeep Dwivedi.
The strike, however, was not called off, hitting hard public distribution system in the State. The situation is expected to worsen with each passing day.
"We will suffer if the strike continues. PDS will be adversely affected in the State, but we cannot interfere with the issues of FCI. The Government of India and responsible officials of FCI will be contacted to resolve the situation at the earliest," said Food and Civil Supplies Minister Saryu Roy while talking to The Pioneer.
Hailing from Chaibasa, Subhash had been working as Technical Assistant for FCI since 2009.He is survived by his wife Phulmuni Samad, his parents Dinesh Chandra Samad and Rashmani Samad, and sister Sunita Munda and brother-in-law Haricharan Singh Munda.
According to sources, Subhash killed himself by ingesting aluminum phosphate, a pesticide, after he was denied an audience by Muthumaran on Wednesday morning and breathed his last on the way to Orchid Hospital. In her statement to police, Phulmuni mentioned that her husband was having a hard time at his workplace due to ill will of Muthumaran and Brajesh.
Phulmuni had disclosed that Kumar had burdened Subhash with the responsibility of Paddy Purchase Centre in Basia and CMR centres in Tatisilwai and lohardaga. Brajesh and Muthumaran had seized the register and records of Basia centre on Sunday last on grounds of incomplete work and were demanding Rs two lakh as bribe to forego the matter, she has mentioned in her statement.