Report by the correspondent of Mazdoor Ekta Committee
On 16 October 2024, the station masters of Indian Railways, led by the All India Station Masters Association, held a one-day hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi to demand the immediate fulfilment of their pending demands.
At the same time, thousands of station masters demonstrated their support for their colleagues sitting on hunger strike by wearing badges that read ‘Fulfil the pending demands!’
The station masters wore their white uniforms at the protest site. They boldly raised slogans – ‘Stop making station masters do duty in inhuman conditions!’, ‘Stop the 12-hour duty roster!’, ‘Implement the Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme (MACP) from January 1, 2016!’, ‘Station masters must be given safety and stress allowance!’, ‘Four designations must be created for promotion!’ – etc., the echo of which could be heard around Jantar Mantar.
This protest was addressed by various station masters
They pointed out that station masters work for 12 hours at their station. They work under stress to maintain the safety of passengers. But they are being deprived of safety and stress allowance. They reiterated their demand that they should get the benefit of MACP every 10 years. It was last fixed on 1 January 2016, but its departmental letter was issued on 16 February 2018. The station masters who retired in the interim were unable to avail its benefit. It has not been released since then.
All India Station Master Association said, “We have informed the Railway Board about our demands many times. But we have got nothing except assurances. Even the railway officials sitting in the Labour Commission assured us that they will solve our problems soon. But till date the problems have not been solved.”
The station masters expressed their determination to intensify the struggle for their pending demands.