Commuters to move court against motormen, WR silent

While Western Railway (WR) authorities remain reluctant to take action against the 200 motormen who brought the city to a standstill on Friday by calling a flash strike, commuter associations in the city have decided to take the matter to court, demanding stringent action against them. Prajakta Chavan Rane reports.

While Western Railway (WR) authorities remain reluctant to take action against the 200 motormen who brought the city to a standstill on Friday by calling a flash strike, commuter associations in the city have decided to take the matter to court, demanding stringent action against them.

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Railway authorities, on condition of anonymity, said that they are not planning any immediate action against the motormen.

"Our priority is to operate the services and now we are focusing only on that. No immediate action against the motormen has been decided," said a senior official.

Sandeep Silas, divisional railway manager of WR's Mumbai Central division said, "The sick leave applications have not yet reached us. Once we get them, we will look into the nature of the requests and decide whether to accept them or not."

On the other hand, commuter associations have decided to approach the judiciary to demand stringent action against the flash strike in the ongoing petition. One citizen group is demanding criminal action against the motormen.

S Balakrishnan from Deshbhakti Andolan in his letter to the city police commissioner Arup Patnaik said, "A handful of irresponsible WR motormen held the entire city to ransom on Friday. With a view to ensure that the city is not held hostage again, we request you to initiate criminal action under Section 166 of the Indian Penal Code that requires a public servant to perform his official duty."

Dipak Gandhi, chairman, Mumbai Suburban Railway Passenger Association, said, "This is the fifth time the suburban railway motormen have held the city to ransom in the past three years. It is high time that our judiciary takes it seriously."

Similarly, the Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh is also planning to file a public interest litigation in the high court and is deciding the grounds for the petition.

"Every time the motormen go on strike, millions of passengers suffer. Commuters end up as the scapegoats," said Madhu Kotian, president, Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh.